It wasn’t just the aviator caps and Amelia Earhart references in Peter Petrov’s new collection that made one think of flight. The narrow line he pursued for fall might well be described as aerodynamic.
The precious and the pragmatic meet in Petrov’s work, maybe because of his menswear background. So a dress was designed to be as easy to wear as a T-shirt, but because of the way the pattern was cut, it torqued when on the body. This was offered, Petrov said, in response to his feeling that “everyone now is into this more body conscious kind of life.” That needn’t be overtly sexual or revealing, as the designer showed with pieces that looked casually wrapped and tied around the body.
To provide a contrast to the slimness, there were also a number of “generous” pieces. These included a winning pair of trousers, creased and with pleats that had a slightly asymmetric close. One pair was worn with an aviator jacket in the most lightweight of leathers, with smocking to draw it in at the waist. Most unexpected was the addition of jeans. Petrov cut them from unwashed Japanese denim, and one pair was cocoa brown. These captured that precious/pragmatic dynamic that makes Petrov’s designs so compelling.