Mixing strong geometric prints with metallics, and pale silky frocks, the latest collection from Ruby Smallbone is both bold, and feminine.
While the first looks from Ruby Smallbone’s spring/summer collection were tight and tough, with panels of mesh and thick black piping, a lingerie inspired feel, and fluttering detail and lace softened.
Indeed, mesh overlays on a nude background, flippy silk black shorts with sweet lace panels and a long ling silk cardigan in blush made you feel as though you were peeping into someone’s boudoir. The colour palette was mainly black and pale, muted colours, interspersed with prints. Prints used included geometric shapes, digital floral, and and stripes. A stiff and super shiny metallic fabric was used on several key pieces.
Cut out details such as triangles added interest. While cigarette pants made for a sexy silhouette. The sharp pleats on the bottom of a silky black frock, were a nice twist on a classic. Several of the pieces featured strategic slashes and slicing, and the fluttering strips of silk, much like the plastic curtains of a milk bar, of one of the frocks was perhaps the result of too much enthusiastic slicing.
Structured and cropped blazers reigned in the slashing and gave definition to some of the floatier frocks. Making for a collection that mixed a lingerie inspired aesthetic, design driven slicing and perforation, with bold prints and sleek silhouettes. Striking a balance between the strident and the delicate.