For Spring 2013, Michael van der Ham looked to the art of Joan Miró and the portraits of Malian photographer Malick Sidibé. The result? A dreamy lineup filled with softly layered silhouettes, painterly prints, and a gorgeous palette of watercolor hues. Silhouettes hugged the torso in subtle folds and then flowed gently out from the waist in the form of sculpted peplums and asymmetrically tiered skirts.
All the cool kids in London are showing prints, so Peter Pilotto and Christopher de Vos took the digital imagery they apply to their feminine skirts and dresses one step further and folded them into highly sculptural peplums and other shapes. On their own, the prints the design duo used in their Spring 2013 collection would have been enough to catch the eye, but architectural takes on the peplum brought stripes of black, white, and light blue to life at the end of a jacket, and the flounce on the bottom of a green and red skirt added movement. There was beading, too, which looked its best in a black and blue dress held together in front by a black bandeau.
