Jean-Pierre Braganza’s spring/summer 2012 collection draws oohs and awws from the most frigid fashion editors

| October 17, 2011

Day two of “the ShOws” at the Ritz-Carlton started off with Jean-Pierre Braganza, a Toronto expat and mainstay of London Fashion Week since 2004. Model Coco Rocha introduced the collection, rolling her Rs like an English speaker trying to speak a foreign language and even joking, “I love saying that: Brrrrrrraganza.” Showing at 4 p.m. doesn’t make for a crowded room—many of the seats went unfilled, which was too bad for fashion lovers with day jobs, since the collection was so strong. Models looked like they were plucked straight out of a Robert Palmer video, with fishtail braids, sharp lines of red on models’ cheeks and dresses in a muted palette of black, grey and many variations of white (cream, beige, ivory). See the full collection after the jump.

Since there was so little in the way of colour, Braganza went for eye-catching details in the cuts, like a dress that was half-blazer, half–little black dress, a mini with cleavage-baring cutouts (perfect for Wonder Woman’s daywear) and, our favourite, a peach sheath with a black laser cut overlay. Other winners were the shift dress with metallic balls in geometric patterns (it reminded us of playing with Buckyballs) and the slate leather jacket. The only downsides were two black gowns, one with silver hardware and another long evening look that we found too boring for a runway show. By the end of the show, it was proven that even icy-hearted fashion editors aren’t immune to a little bit of cuteness: when Braganza took his bow with daughter Raven, the room erupted in “awws,” but we believe Braganza deserved his fair share of “oohs,” too.