Designer Basil Soda recreates global warming on the catwalk
Beirut native, Basil Soda, once worked under Elie Saab and it's easy to see the imprint Hollywood's favourite Lebanese designer left on his work: Like Saab, Soda also turns out ravishing red carpet-ready gowns, heavy with fancy beadwork.
But his spring-summer collection shown in Paris on Wednesday had a hard, rock-princess edge.
Some of the looks, with peaked shoulders and fringes of gold chains and little razor-shaped metal appliques, felt like what Balmain would do if the Paris-based label ever brought hemlines down below the upper thigh.
The inspiration for the show, as Soda explains, was taken from the earth around him:
"Everybody is talking about global warming and we're going to see a lot of water and fewer ice and this is what makes the collection. If you look at it there is a lot of transparency; a lot of glass effect. All the embroideries are done with metallic and transparent materials and this was what was interesting; to work with this softness, and I think the theme was duality. This is what I wanted to do; having something soft and at the same time putting something strong on it in terms of lines or in terms of material."
AP