Last season, Johnny Talbot and Adrian Runhof used a 1970s influence to make sociopolitical commentary about tolerance and freedom (full-on corduroy is not a sin!). For Spring they lightened up the fabrics but held on to the politics, this time taking aim at Vladimir Putin. “Visit before he does!” was the headline in the From Russia With Love collection, and it appeared above Photoshopped mockeries of the Russian president sporting an Eiffel Tower on his head, Jean-Paul Goude-style, or embracing the Empire State Building, bare-chested, like King Kong. No one in the Kremlin would crack a smile, but the designers likely don’t care. More to the point, how do you wear such a manifesto? Literally, for starters, with spangled graphics by Talbot and Runhof’s longtime collaborator Stephan Heering emblazoned on basketball tricots with swingy fringe (here’s betting those will move fast). Then came more sequins! Stripes! Shine! Plaid! Barbie hues! All at once! No one ever accused Talbot Runhof of understatement. Yet when you broke it down there were subtle, pretty pieces, such as a black mesh sports blouson embroidered with floral and coral motifs, a skirt in hand-painted silk jacquard, and a black floral-embroidered crepe dress with white and blue sequined ribbing. Talbot Runhof has tripled its sales in the past four years. This morning, the label’s designers offered further proof, as if any were needed, that in the face of all the world’s many injustices, a solid sense of humor goes a long way to making things bearable.