Alice Temperley’s collections sometimes suffer from the sin of over-literalness. Not this one. In fact, it was hard to know what to make of the grab bag of motifs on the Temperley runway this evening. Lederhosen. Embroidered mouths, lips open or closed. Sequins. Princess Di collars. There were quite a few loose jigsaw pieces here, in other words. But there were also fully assembled areas of the Temperley puzzle.
The strongest looks here were the ones that didn’t seem to be striving for any particular meaning and instead aimed for high-volume prettiness. Temperley’s floral prints, embroideries, and silk jacquards were highlights; ditto her unexpectedly dainty quilted dresses and skirts. Temperley often paired these fine materials with rather mumsy knits—a long cardigan, say, or a cable-knit sweater. It was a nice, grounding touch, one echoed in the pairing of a sequined evening skirt featuring knife-cut pleats with a crisp white button-down. Slouchy sequined or velvet jumpsuits, meanwhile, had the opposite effect, the casual shapes given a shot of glam thanks to the disco materials.
There were other nice looks, too, and plenty of interesting details. As a whole, however, this motley outing didn’t really cohere around any singular message. That won’t matter to the women reaching for Temperley’s glittery black dress with the low-cut V-neckline and shapely full skirt, a look that counted among the winners here, but it does mean that there were fewer winners overall.
