Akris by Albert Kriemler spring 2015

Every season the memory that Akris was once an old dowager collection amazes me. It shows you that a brand can be reinvented and yet retain its original DNA which was structured beautifully made clothes albeit now conceived with a master’s touch... that would be Albert Kriemler.

Although the collection can be a bit choppy from season to season, Herr Kriemler stays on track and keeps his eye on the ball. The collection is always focused and always aims to achieve the same end... just sometimes not as successfully as others. My main gripe has been when the designer employs prints or some every developed theme. There have been seasons that rendered me unmoved and then there are those that reassure me that fashion does exist in many permutations.

Spring 2015, in my eyes, is an almost pitch perfect example of modern minimal clothes; one might say, well so is Jill Sander, but alas the difference here is that Akris doesn’t require a PhD in philosophy to understand the clothes These are the clothes of the self-assured; woman who requires no bells and whistles but demands the highest quality of workmanship, design and fabrication. One might perceive these clothes as almost surgically precise but they are clothes that are meant to be worn, not explained and not admired as if they were standing in a museum.

The monochromatic nature of the collection makes it quite simple for almost any woman to be “well assembled.” You just have to love that hard edged geometric visor/baseball cap that is used throughout as the primary accessory. The lattice work which we have seen around in many collections appears here but here in easy shapes with simple underpinnings that show off the technical wizardry of it. The laser cut leathers appear to be so precise so... well sharp that they might inflict paper cuts... if you catch my drift

 To me where the collection is weakest is with a series of black dresses with chiffon insets and panels. They are a bit been there done that and possibly the collection would have been better served to stay minimal and cleaner for evening.