 PARIS, July 3, 2006 - Mary, of Peter, Paul and Mary, recently told the New
York Times that she couldn’t understand why only the Dixie Chics had spoken
out against the misbegotten American adventure in Iraq. Had it been the
1960s, she went on to say, the entire artistic community would have been
picketing the White House.
So it's strange that young Austrian designer Petar Petrov would be the only
designer thus far showing this season in Paris, to send out a politically
charged message. Austria, after all, is a place where neo-Nazis are fast
gaining on Socialists. What he showed on Monday was a collection of muscle
shirts sprinkled with peace signs. As barefoot models trooped along the
runway to a soundtrack that sang out "what are you fighting for?", you almost
wanted to get up and give them a hand. Petrov’s retro look of interesting
distressed fabrics - some quilted, some runched, some meshed - could have
been at home in happier countercultural times. Add in a palette of such
non-belicose colors as passion purple, plum and lilac, and you have the
wardrobe fit for a Peace Commune located somewhere in the shadow of
Woodstock.
Also of interest was a series of sweaters strung together by a macramé of
holes.
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Battle of the Embroideries
