The designers’ signature lies in a simultaneous explosion of prints and colour and a futuristic silhouette. “A favourite colour? We can’t say!” when we ask the designers for a top hue backstage. “It’s about the effect that colours have when they are placed together, both on fabric and body. Things change completely when put together.” The V&A could not have been a more perfect destination for a retrospective catwalk show, the designers having been inspired by it from the very beginning. “It’s such an amazing institution and it’s great to enter a full cycle here, looking back to things that inspired us here – from mosaics to paintings.”
Set under the ornately beautiful ceilings of the Victoria and Albert museum’s Raphael Gallery, the Peter Pilotto retrospective was one of serene and opulent fashion. Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos met at Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts in the 2000s, and launched their label in 2007. As part of the V&A’s Fashion In Motion series, the designers presented 59 looks of collections through the years, providing a beautifully cohesive vision of the fantastical Peter Pilotto world.
There is something particular about watching a fashion show that pieces together work from over eight years, but it does cement exactly what a designer and his vision are. How do the designers feel having edited such a show? “It was a lot to work with, but it was amazing, and just amazing to get to work with things from the archive that have now become souvenirs in a way.”
Colour is a powerful tool, and Peter Pilotto seem to be one of its contemporary masters. With Isamaya Ffrench, another colour queen, on the decks of the models’ faces, the vibrancy of each piece came to life. Silhouettes graduated into mature feminine statements of A-line skirts and dropped shoulders, as well as crystals to make haute-line bling. And where to now for Peter Pilotto? “Keep on what we’re doing hopefully it’s so exciting to be working in the way we are and nice to see that we can be designing on a bigger scale with a bigger team.”