“Taking creasing, like creased garments, and extreme creasing them, so that they will last a lifetime. They already looked like they were creased, and they will be there as if you shoved them at the bottom of your bag for a lifetime”, the words of Neil Barrett on his breathlessly light, yet strong, Spring 2011 collection.

Boldly highlighting the transition from the darkened power of Fall 2010 by displaying his most recent works in a very spacious and serene venue, set with no more than 2-3 rows per section, Barrett further expands on his aesthetic and noted use of graphic colors. In high contrast, black takes to white when classically collared cotton shirts are fused with black strips of leather, and collarless shirts become loosened, paired with settled trousers.

Stating that he was to create “something a bit more easy, more loose but at the same time trying to create loose, but something that doesn’t look like a sack”, relaxed singled-breasted and doubled breasted suits were re-worked in lighter fabrics, shrunken to create both new proportion, silhouette and feel. While, transparencies gained hard-edge by the addition of supple leather patches at shoulder, topping padded trousers that aided in capturing the designer’s beloved message of hard and soft.

The collection’s classic strength is gained through the timeless militrial influences of well-tailored jackets, still light, and multi-buttoned pieces often featuring military-styled buttoned shoulders.

The shoulders in which also played a vital role in the strength of the women’s looks that featured leaner and sexier silhouettes, strong, gaining an edgy softness through transparent legging worn with heels.

By far creating some of the most outstanding footwear personally seen this season, Barrett describes his arrival at the cut-out shoes by mentioning, “we’ve taken a lot of types of shoes and chopped them together…taking for example, a jellybean sandal in leather, then chop that up and put it with a desert boot”.

Truly, astonishing.

Neil Barrett Spring 2011, taken by Homme Times

The Full Collection / 44 Pics

[Images: Andrew Thomas]