Jonathan Saunders

The setting—a Gattaca-like office floor in an unsettling modern complex—signaled Jonathan Saunders’s usual engagement with ultramodernity, but the clothes this season glanced back instead. “It was nice to see lengths past the knee and quite elegant,” he said. “That stricter pencil skirt and flirty forties dresses.”

Saunders had been looking at the strange, surreal tones of Paul Outerbridge’s early color photographs and the work of Euan Uglow for inspiration this season. Lalique glass was the source for sinuous Art Nouveau prints of poppies and orchids that were striking when used in different color combinations for a blouse and skirt, for example.

Interesting tonal experiments also included Palio color-block blouses in combinations such as rose and emerald, or two variations of China blue, worn with slim fifties skirts in rust mohair or silky jersey. Coats in deep pile wool had been heat-treated to create smooth areas, thus subtly altering the shade.

Christian Louboutin’s velvet shoes with chunky wooden heels completed the “Austerity Britain” flavor.