Fashion Scout: Mandy Coon
You may have heard of Mandy Coon. There's the Ecco Domani womenswear grant she was awarded last month. Her bunny bag has practically hit cult status. And she's the former paramour of LCD frontman James Murphy. However, it was her presentation at Lincoln Center this weekend that sealed the deal as a name you must know.
Inspired by an old photo of her mother wearing a turtleneck and high-waisted trousers, Coon went for a covered yet high-impact look of her own. She used black leather generously and with wicked precision: along edges of floor-length black wool skirts, as sleeves for a bright magenta shift dress, and for bows that finished pieces just so. A lot of the leather was embossed with snakeskin, making its way onto razor-sharp pencil skirts or the detailed strips of her short, boxy tops.
The show was a perfectly executed balance between polished and punky. While black leather is typically all about toughness, the crisp silhouettes here gave the clothes quiet elegance. And although the models were clipped with dip-dyed bang extensions that covered their right eye (emphasizing the dramatically lined left one), the mood was serene as lone pianist Émilie Simon accompanied the catwalkers.
February 2011
Lo Martin