The Swiss have a knack for carving out a niche and owning it. Swiss banking, Swiss watches, mountain resorts or chocolate. Made in Switzerland is a quality seal. So, it was an interesting twist of fate that the Paris show-calendar had two Swiss designers on the schedule following each other by the hour. It was the sexy subversive sartorial Ottolinger at 1pm on one end of Paris and the clean and precise tailoring of Albert Kriemler’s Akris at the other end. Both brands own a small niche in the fashion universe where Akris celebrated its second act in the yearlong celebration of 100 years. This will culminate with an exhibition at the Museum für Gestaltung in Zurich on May 11th. An impressive feat Albert Kriemler pulled off whose design canon is always a conversation with art and architecture. Ottolinger is at the other end of the design spectrum but also clearly defined as pioneers of the sci-fi body-con aesthetic. And maybe ACHTUNG should bring designers Bösch, Gadient and Kriemler together for a round table of where their common ideas could catapult Swiss design.
Sexy subversive sartorial Ottolinger
Clean and precise tailoring at Akris
Ottolinger
There has been a distinct racing trend on the runways and Ottolinger made it sexy with their opening looks in Ferrari red, racing stripes on pants and motocross style boots. Using their strapping details on a large portion of tailoring in black and white brought on their familiar space age vibe. A big black and white puffer jacket worn with a side slit shiny skirt was a standout look as was the black bumster pants and puffer jacket outfit.
One of the opening motocross looks in red
Black tailoring with typical strap applications
Standout look
Puffy bumster pants
Akris
A surprising find in the archive of three boxes with his own patterns from the 1970’s was the starting point for Albert Kriemler’s show of luxurious self-expression. In a season which is dominated by real clothes in rich fabrics and clear silhouettes, Akris was bound to shine as nobody works harder at expressing his fashion with clear lines in tactile fabrics often from St. Gallen to exude sensual minimalism. Kriemler went for an above the knee length for mini coats and skirts which was new for him and continued the sexy vibe with across the chest slashes in dresses and see through chiffon blouses or see through sleeves on his suiting. Kriemler is also working with architect David Chipperfield on a series of new stores to be in synch with this design ethos. The 100 year anniversary and the romp through the archives clearly motivate the designer to chart new territory.
Rich fabrics
Above the knee hemlines on coats
See through blouses
Zippers as slashes across the chest
