DROP DEAD GLAMOUR

Venexiana was the first invitation I received when I started covering Fashion Week, and it never ceases to astound. The lights go down, and I’m transported to another time, a time when people knew, understood, insisted on glamour, when they dressed to the nines for a night out at a club, not just for the odd red carpet.

Kati Stern’s evening wear oozes glamour, and lots of it. She sent 57 looks down the runway for Spring/Summer 2015, 57 looks that made everyone lucky enough to experience them oooh and aaah and wish they had somewhere to wear them.

Black matte jersey and Preciosa crystals opened the show with a simple elegance. Matte jersey, satin, taffeta, crepe and chiffon gowns, in colors like coral, mint, aquamarine and seafoam, all with just enough sparkle.

One favorite: a peach-colored, cap-sleeved dress with a long fish tail. Feminine but far from girly, it was one of the many standouts in this moving sea of femininity. There were florals and prints, but where Venexiana shines for me, it’s in the fabric selections. Each sleek look seems like moving liquid, topped with just the right amount of shine. I’ve seen these treatments in black and bronze, but Stern does it in pink and mint, coral, yellow and even beige and nude.

Stern has such a strong feel for this type of elegance, a connection to glamour and a complete understanding of how a woman’s body moves. I don’t understand why anyone headed for a red carpet would wear anything else.

Photography: Anton Brookes