“On a dark night, two girls found themselves in the wrong place at the right time and I was about to get caught in a Spider’s web. A web of beautiful women, high heels, leopard print and murder.”
To the backdrop of a classic film noir tale, Charlotte Olympia launches the Autumn Winter 2017 collection. There’s a victim, a detective, a heroine and one serious shoe plot to unravel. And so, the case begins.
In ‘An Accessory To Murder’, Charlotte Olympia’s signature shoe and bag styles become the leading ladies of the brand’s very own film noir. There’s Kitty, Pandora and Dolly, with brand mascot Bruce playing at the archetypal bartender, and a detective, who has his work cut out in a classic maze of mystery and deceit that leaves us guessing about everything – apart from what accessories we should be wearing next season.
Charlotte Olympia takes the iconography of the film noir world, inspired by its stars such as Lauren Bacall, Rita Hayworth and Barbara Stanwyck, and puts the brand’s signature stamp upon it. A monochrome collection with flashes of fuchsia, heels are retro-inspired: a modern interpretation of 1940s silhouettes; while physical style-hallmarks of film noir become clever design details. Clock how those bows are in fact little gloves, booties boast collars at the ankle and there comes a stroke of witty genius as bags receive their very own rain macs – just like the hardboiled detective so typically wears.
Newspaper print does in fact make for statement-worthy accessories; heel-less Tip-Toe shoes mean you can make an entrance but quietly slip away; kitten heels are killer (watch out!); and cut-out graphics from those classics of the time – ‘Gilda’, ‘Double Indemnity’ and ‘To Have & Have Not’ – adorn bags and knee-high boots. Others see the Dolly and Kitty shoes go incognito as wristlet bags, or come disguised as a bottle of poison. Heart breaking motifs, hound’s-tooth and decorative trimmings feature throughout whilst keyrings of the brand’s mini iconic shoes feature little whistles, in a nod to Bacall’s famous line: “You know how to whistle don’t you?”
Charlotte Olympia Dellal once again blends her love of old-world glamour into a unique presentation, something that has also become a trademark and evolution of her work; this season’s collection perfectly befitting of a film format, shot in black and white, starring Bambi Northwood-Blyth and directed by Sophie Edelstein.
