Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Pastel Blur






French design-house Carven commissioned Viviane Sassen to make promotional images for the current Fall/Winter clothes. These images went into recent distribution because August means the same thing every year : coat-buying season  for that significant segment of women in the northern hemisphere both fashion-conscious and rich. September will be too late.

Sassen's renderings of pinks and blues  and that blurry pale rosy camel and dappled fawn  colluded to overturn at one swoop my bias against pastels. Presenting subjects out of focus against a sharp-focus background works particularly well because another layer of sharp focus is quietly insinuated between viewer and garment  a layer of crisp lettering that seems to float forward (in white sans serifs, all caps) on its own plane.

Supernatural cashmeres.