In her delightful pre-fall collection Ditte Reffstrup further develops themes she introduced for spring (such as wrapping and print mixing) and combines them with updates of brand signatures (heart-shaped instead of round studs, T-shirt prints worked into fuzzy pullovers). The clothes conjure the softness of late summer and a change-of-seasons mood that is at once nostalgic and anticipatory. A long, lace-trimmed dress with lingerie details and a flowing handkerchief hem take cues from the past, while a plaid bomber with scattered embroidered blooms has a sportier, tomboy vibe, and hints towards cooler temps.
Flowers are a carryover theme from last season explored through different textiles and colors. There’s a poppy red in a fil coupé material, which also shows up in a leaf brown hue on a pantsuit. Subtler is a white-on-white (or should we say “cloud dancer”?) jacquard that is like a woven equivalent of a warp print. A watercolor floral print on georgette is similarly suggestive. The lightness is even carried through to a zebra print, which got an airy redo. And if you think that you can’t mix that animalier motif with argyle, Ganni will convince you otherwise.
Reffstrup, who always pulls from her personal experiences, embedded elements of her Danish summers into the offering via strawberries (which she likes best served with cream and sugar), shells (see the embroidery on a mesh overlay on a mini LBD), and lace. Having learned from a summer friend that different Danish regions produced different styles of lace, the designer created a logo trim representing the imaginary land of eternal summer.
