Christian Siriano is in a nostalgic mood. He recently bought a house for his mother and was going through old photographs. “We used to have this living room in our old house that had this lipstick red, camel back sofa, with this mahogany furniture and damask curtains,” he said over Zoom. His muse? His sister, getting ready for school. “When she was 17, she worked in a couture hat store and she’d wear these huge hats and platform shoes and tutus and I’d be like, ‘Where are you going?’ And she was like, ‘This is how I dress.’ It was wild.”
Siriano’s pre-fall collection was shot against a dark red background, channeling his youthful memories. His eccentric goth-leaning teenage sister pops up too, mainly in the form of ruffled peplums around the waist, but the lineup is otherwise focused on Siriano’s hits. “We’re a very event brand. Events are happening but we’re not sure what they’re wearing anymore. Is it suits? Is it cocktail? Is it full evening?” In turn, he showed a little bit of everything, from an easy, almost pajama-like silky red suit to a dress constructed of wavy, vertical layers of red, black, and white fabric.
The collection also runs the gamut from classic to experimental. A tea-length red strapless dress, a floor-length gown with puff-sleeves and a leg slit, and a black A-line, full skirt dress with a puffy neckline all fall into the first category. The memorable looks from the collection all fall into the latter. Two of the dresses have moveable, moldable accoutrements that the wearer can manipulate depending on the look they’re going for. In the look book, they resemble bunny ears, and Siriano emphasized their convertibility. He also adapted the eye motif from Janelle Monaé’s outfit for the 2019 Camp-themed Met Gala into a black strapless dress. With two eyes splashed across the bust, it’s still attention-grabbing but more wearable than Monaé’s attire (not that that’s a high bar).
The penultimate photo shows a red ball skirt paired with a sporty, ’90s inspired cut-out crop top. The juxtaposition between avant-garde and elegant is most successful in this pairing. The high-fashion bandeau has been trending on the red carpet, and it’s easy to imagine this look making an appearance during awards season.
