Paris fashion weekPARIS, October 6, 2010

By Meenal Mistry

What would Lucy Ricardo wear to a job interview? That was one of the questions Johnny Talbot and Adrian Runhof asked themselves while designing this season's collection. (It would have been Lucille Ball's 100th birthday next year.) Their answer: a slim-line midi shift in fine chocolate wool with a skirtlike swag of chiffon fluttering from the hip. Did it make sense? Not quite, but then, logic has never been an absolute fashion essential.

The pair's aim seemed to be to inject the parade of fifties- and sixties-inflected elegant workwear, cocktail dresses, and bodysuits-cum-swimwear with some element of Ball's absurdist comedic sensibility. The most overt example was a floral baby doll with a sort of reverse halter. The visual joke was that from the front it read as a strapless dress and floating collar, and from the back as a shirtdress. But otherwise, their Spring muse was mostly left in the wings, with only an embroidery based on TV static and a black and white palette to represent her.

An entire page of the duo's show notes was devoted to an impressive listing of their many stockists in North America (Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, Holt Renfrew), as well as Europe and Asia. This collection, with lots of pretty, uptown-girl dresses, will thrill those retailers. But whether these clothes needed a turn on the big stage of a Paris runway is another question the designers might want to pose to themselves.

Fashion Brand: Talbot Runhof | www.talbotrunhof.com

Talbot Runhof embodies a cunning, sophisticated glamour, the main ingredient being the delicate balance between fabric, fabric mixes, color and cut.