As a denim and leather brand, music is at the heart and soul of Diesel Black Gold. Designer Andreas Melbostad riffed on rockabilly and New Wave for Spring, citing as major inspiration a leather jacket studded with metal stars once sported by the 1980s icon Gary Numan. Melbostad’s not the first designer to get into those grooves (Saint Laurent’s Hedi Slimane currently leads the pack in this category), and he won’t be the last, so the question is: What does Melbostad bring to the Spring conversation?
The quick answer: cute denim and leather separates. After several seasons of dyeing, studding, and otherwise mistreating jeans, he opted to use raw denim in vivid shades of red and baby blue. On a short A-line skirt, the red denim had a crisp naïveté that the bra top it was paired with didn’t quite manage to subvert. Melbostad cut bra tops every which way; we imagine Rita Ora, who strolled in half an hour late, rocking a vestlike, lace-front version in silver and black leather. “It’s my kind of thing,” said scenester deejay Mia Moretti backstage. Numan’s star studs materialized everywhere—as embellishments on skirts and jackets, and as prints on dresses that looked playful and young. Nothing to take too seriously. That’s rock ‘n’ roll for you.