Akris: Transparent elegance

No designer is as cerebral as Albert Kriemler, whose latest collection for Akris managed to combine Renaissance frescoes and hyper-modern sheer fabrics in a tour de force.

Albert's palette emerged from his visits to northern Italy to admire the frescoes of Piero della Francesca, the inspiration for the costumes he created for a John Neumeier ballet in Hamburg. And then to Mantua to see the masterpieces of the great Andrea Mantegna, in particular his legendary Camera degli Sposi in the Gonzaga Palace.

“I was moved by Mantegna's color and interpretation of light. How he gave a certain grace to the characters in his art,” Albert recalled.

The result was a fashion show of true grace, where the curved shapes that Mantegna made of aristocratic clothing were distilled into Akris's elegant and elegiac clothes. While its light and shadow color palette was reinterpreted in a very new color selection of light brick, soft yellow and faded caramel.

All, surprisingly, used with technological fabrics such as: taffeta, tulle or coated techno gabardine; layered techno grid; Technical silk and polyester organza or coated cotton raffia.

Seen in some beautiful layered or patchwork semi-sheer techno cocktails or A-line trapeze dresses. A wonderful layered sheer skirt was made from mesh traditionally used in hatbands and then finished off with a chiffon lining. Light and malleable, clothes that a woman could put in a suitcase, cross an ocean and still look perfect when she takes them out of a suitcase.

Other beautiful dresses looked like they were made of pleated fabrics, but were actually cleverly sewn with ribbons. These super-light ideas are often combined with nappa biker jackets made of calfskin or lambskin, or a series of linen tunics and jackets. In all, a sheer daywear that was very airy and very wearable.

Her inclusive cast carries the new accordion bag called Top Handle Alice, in honor of her grandmother, who founded Akris. All manufactured in the Swiss brand's own German factory.

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Kriemler's location couldn't have been more different than last March. It was in a disused and dilapidated C&A store. This Sunday he found himself within the majesty of the College of the Bernardins, a charming work of Gothic architectural perfection.

“It is admirable that France and Italy have the money and capacity to restore their wonderful cultural riches,” Albert observes with admiration.

The ever-busy Kriemler's next project is in Chicago, opening his third boutique designed by architect David Chipperfield

“For me, architecture is meant to be forever, which is not very fashionable. Then one looks towards minimalist modernism. But I don't want my client to freeze, so we need some sensuality. So it's not just stone, but a brilliant solution from David: carved wood walls and ceilings. “Our boutique is clad in bleached oak,” he enthused.

There is also a “small new store in Ginza, which started before Covid and ended after four years.” And from May 2022, another store run by Chipperfield in a new shopping center designed by Herzog & De Meuron in Washington.

“Each one opened on a different parent's birthday, and that wasn't planned. That’s what I call a good omen,” Albert laughed.