PEDRO DEL HIERRO MADRID AW15’16 READY-TO-WEAR NEW YORK FASHION WEEK

Pedro del Hierro Madrid designer Carmen March had a simple brief for Fall: Girls just want to have fun. She was fascinated by the huge cultural shifts her native Spain experienced in the late ’70s after Franco’s regime was toppled. Think women’s lib, the sexual revolution, and Studio 54’s hedonism all happening in Madrid at the same time. “There was a club on every block,” said March at the presentation. “And it was driven by women. It was a time of empowerment. They were independent, financially and socially.”

March sought to create clothes with this liberated party spirit and in fact designed them by how they’d look under a club’s black light—the sheer green and purple blouses, for instance, would pop. Party clothes, these were. Day clothes…mmm. The sheer factor on some of the hand-painted velvets backed on chiffon felt flimsy next to softly structured wool and cashmere coats with a louche elegance. March freely cribbed from ’70s and ’80s silhouettes, and while pleated and cropped tapered pants will work on the long and lean of a leg, it’s hard to imagine the silver dévoré jumpsuit with scalloped flyaway details working anywhere except a dance floor.

What almost got lost in the unbridled party scene were the leathers—lightweight and supple, done as culottes, fluid ruffled blouses, and a great puffer coat. That is what the house was built on, and it’s where the real party should be.