Fall/Winter 2008

Woman's Dress

Peter Som's fall/winter 2008 collection was inspired by early 1960s fashion as depicted in slick fashion advertising and in Diane Arbus's idiosyncratic, intentionally askew photographs of New Yorkers. Som, a Bay Area native who showed his first collection in 1999, uses Arbus-inspired asymmetry and adds his own intense color to give an underlying edginess to the flattering, feminine form of a vintage cocktail dress. A circular tube of bias fabric, pleated into one side of the strapless bodice, creates a stole-like neckline; pleated fabric crisscrosses the torso and forms a large bow loop; and layers of airy fabrics soften the hem.