Jasper Garvida, in his Autumn/Winter 2010 collection takes us on a journey as he explores the Art Deco movement through his bold prints, shapes and colours.

He particularly takes reference to the roaring twenties and actress Louise Brooks whose grace transpires throughout the collection and inspires his silhouettes.

Garvida's cool colour palette with metallic undertones is reminiscent of the classic Art Deco style consisting of green, brown, blue, grey and black with accents of yellow. His textile prints from first glance appear basic almost elementary and feature a combination of geometric forms injected with colour. The precision and proportion of the pattern disable the print from being anything but simple and more of a complex mathematical formula, so typical of the Art Deco period.

The silhouette characterises Louise Brooks who in the 20’s was hailed as a new type of woman who drank, smoked and loved freely. Garvida, exhibits her intellectual independence and confidence through his structured and sculpted pieces that accentuate the feminine curves without giving anything away. Garvida places special attention to the shoulders, which he pads, embellishes, tucks and peaks to complete his severe vamp look. Alternatively Garvida also celebrates and plays with Brook’s daring and sexually free nature. He creates a series of alluring short mini dresses richly embellished in black and silver sequence, adds frills to necklines and sleeves and adds flowers to belts to further exuberate the sense of fun.

The collection was elegant, glamorous and practical but a feeling of 1920’s modernism prevailed. I would of liked to have seen more of his phenomenal knitwear, which to me was the epitome of his collection. The innovative geometric forms made from chunky knits were the perfect technique for a new approach to this recurring theme of an otherwise outstanding show.

Annette Traczyk