Emilio Pucci Fall 2012

One edge of fashion is tilting toward the darker, more sophisticated side of sexuality—but who would ever expect an Emilio Pucci collection to go there? It’s a sign of Peter Dundas’s growing confidence as a pied piper to the pack of the hot and fashion-conscious that he devoted the opening of his fall collection to the exploration of black. Proving his skills as a designer who can cut, he sliced the little black dress and patent leather skirts into shapely forms, filling in shardlike cutouts with tulle and slashing hems to show plenty of lissom leg. “Reserved,” let it be said, is hardly the word for it. “I was thinking, in the beginning about Belle de Jour—and about menswear,” he said. Between those two starting points, he worked up a collection which was as strong on mannish tailoring and outerwear as it was on taking care of the woman who likes to display her curves.