Erin Fetherston Resort 2009

Erin Fetherston set up two tableaux vivants in the jewel-box-like space of Van Cleef & Arpels to present her Resort collection. Her groupings of girls in icy pastel-hued evening looks were inspired by Cecil Beaton photographs, and the designer cut dresses in photo-printed chiffon and taffeta created by innovative Swiss textile house Jakob Schlaepfer. Some gowns in the latter group too readily recalled the age of society dames in Charles James, but numbers like a one-shoulder bubble cocktail frock brought things back around to modern day.