Rafael Cennamo Fall/Winter 2013

For fall/winter 2013 Rafael Cennamo drew inspiration from Versailles’ famed Halls of Mirrors (Galerie des Glaces). Rafael Cennamo, over the past few seasons, has established his brand as one of the few brands that consistently brings the art of classic couture to Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

But Cennamo doesn’t focus his collections on classic couture. Each season Cennamo injects his own unique perspective on couture, directing his point of view on glamour and luxury to one of fashion-forward sensibility and a modern projection of where couture as ready-to-wear is heading.

For this collection, Rafael Cennamo used lots of beaded gowns embellished with bugle beads, gold sunburst beading, gold modern pavé beading, and gold-painted detailing to forward his Galerie des Glaces reference. Also, there were also some garments in this collection that referenced Egyptian Goddess art.

What Rafael Cennamo successfully accomplished in this collection was his marriage of classic couture with wearable ready-to-wear red carpet looks. Not every garment in this collection exactly fits this description. However, even those pieces that were more fashion-as-art fare, there was no doubt that craftmanship and detailing elevates this collection to a level a masterpiece of wearable art.

This collection also featured garments that expanded the definition of fashion-forward sensibility and the technique of artfully combining hard and soft textures. Examples of this exquisite assemblage of textures would be Cennamo’s gold modern pave beaded gown with cream knit skirt, as well as his gold metal pailette beaded bodice with espresso draped taffeta skirt.

Ultimately, with this collection Rafael Cennamo has found that almost perfect balance between now and next. And isn’t that what should always be about !!

—William S. Gooch