Now in her third season in Paris, Verónica Leoni is increasingly confident in the direction her Quira label is taking.
“It's about appropriating a point of view,” he told WWD. “I really try to tell the story of femininity in a personal way without layers or letting someone tell you how a woman should dress.”
To express this, she invited American photographer and model Guinevere Van Seenus to capture herself, as well as choreographer and dancer Imre van Opstal, “getting physical with the clothes,” as the designer put it.
At times, the photographer's fist clenched around the camera remote telegraphed boldness and defiance, an impression fostered by silhouettes that seemed more strict than sensual this season.
That impression was denied in person. To better help women embrace themselves, Leoni said she had followed the need to “take off silhouettes,” both in the amount of layering and in cuts with little embellishment.
Instead, he offset them with the feel and density of his fabrics (melton, double-faced wools, tweeds, wool gabardine and cottons) to great effect, along with a palette of greys, which he felt worked best to highlight the combinations.
Exhibit A: A slim-fit, collarless pantsuit elegantly and crisply crafted in bleached black denim.
Elsewhere, it's his knack for construction that made his work stand out, from the exposed shoulder seam of a jacket and a dramatic draped poplin shirt to a skirt shaped like a single suit triangle, and which could become into a mini sculpture thanks to a hidden button.
“You want to see your designs on the street because, ultimately, that is the success of a creative direction,” Leoni said. Those were the kind of details that make you stop and ask about the brand.
