Fashion feature: Johan Ku Spring 2014

image:C.Hope for Style WyldeThe story of Selma; namely her slow decline into blindness and her escape from a harsh reality into Hollywood-musical-style daydreams, as told in Lars Von Trier's bleak  Bjork vehicle Dancer in the Dark, made for an unusual, but inspired muse for designer Johan Ku's Spring 2014 collection.

image:C.Hope for Style Wylde

Unlike the film, which honestly at times can feel relentlessly depressing , Ku's collection was built primarily around Selma's escape, using innovative textiles, and voluminous shapes to create a fantastical reality. In some of the pieces, painterly prints were created out of layers of fabric built up into 3-D patterns and then incased in transparent "bubble like" structures. While other pieces incorporated shredded knits over slim shift shapes.

image:C.Hope for Style Wylde

image:C.Hope for Style Wylde

image:C.Hope for Style Wylde

image:C.Hope for Style Wylde

image: C.Hope for Style Wylde

image:C.Hope for Style Wylde

The overall effect was dreamy, but with enough individual pieces in the 'wearable' category to keep the collection from crossing over into pure costume drama.