Brandon Maxwell, the New York designer and “Project Runway” judge, has only shown one print in his five years on the runway, but his new collection, photographed by Venetia Scott on models Lara Stone and Jourdan Dunn, is packed with them: leopard spots, zebra stripes, florals, butterflies, and polka dots.
This is the first time the designer has worked extensively with prints, and he handled them beautifully, with a green warped polka-dot pattern highlighting every curve on a bias-cut long-sleeved gown, and a blue butterfly pattern tailored perfectly to close wing-to-wing on a nipped-waist coat over jeans and heels.
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His silhouettes are still as precise and body-limning as ever, but the prints he got from the interiors company Voutsa are artful and handmade.
He also displayed a softer side for evening, embracing fashion’s current passion for all things stretchy and knit, with a pale pink hourglass knit gown and matching cable knit cape, and a more daring black cable knit cropped cardi and thigh-high slit knit wrap skirt pair. A pale flamingo-pink faux fur bathrobe cloak that would work over a gown, jeans, or nothing at all was arguably the softest of all.
Maxwell’s attempt at elevated sweatpants last season has gone downhill. These are interesting enough, but the prints appear to be the start of a new chapter. He revealed that he plans to display more of them during the spring season and that he hopes to return to the runway in September.
Photo Credit: Joe Williams / Courtesy of Brandon Maxwell