//DDD// Emerson: Jackie Fraser Swan, Fall Winter 2012
Follow @dddmagazine Follow @dirtydurtyWritten By: Gordon West, Contributing Fashion Editor
Photos By: Gordon West @itakemycamera
With VV Brown’s apropos L.O.V.E. thundering from the speakers, (it was St. Valentine’s evening after all), Jackie Fraser-Swan unveiled Emerson’s Fall Winter 2012 collection at Lincoln Center last night. The collection lies somewhere between the flirtatious naiveté of an ingénue and the self-assured seduction of a gothic pin-up. Amidst wool, lace, leather, chiffon and floral print silks, a healthy—and unexpected—helping of neoprene could be spotted, most notably on a pair of black sailor pants. Rooted primarily in black, splashes of color were added in notes of violet, plum, eggplant and an outrageous lime.
The collection’s cocktail dresses, pencil skirts, coats and jackets are all certainly inspired by the 1940s, and the bouncing cascade of Hollywood-starlet curls on each of the models can attest to the decade’s influence. However, Swan has reinterpreted that era by raising hemlines, choosing transparent fabrics and embellishing it all with the erotic mystery a contemporary film noir villainess (the kind you root for) just might invoke. In other words, what Lauren Bacall might have worn had there been no stifling censorship to tell her otherwise.
