The Thousands

Skype is good for lots of things. Virtual dates, calling people sans credit, designing an entire haute couture collection. Well, that last one was obviously a joke. A complex task like that (especially when you’re gunning for LMFF) is not something you can do via pixelated visuals and delayed audio….

Now for the corker: that’s exactly how Of Cabbages & Kings put together their latest AW 2010 collection, Earthly Delights. By day, Kira toiled at Alexander McQueen in the chilly UK and Tane dealt in Helmut Lang at Dilettante. By night, the two would be in their virtual fashion studio, holding up the dressmaker’s dummy to the laptop cam and emailing patterns to and fro. Somewhere deep in the midst of the digital ether, emerged the triumph that is Earthly Delights.

There’s prim olive blazers with striped collar detail. Post-WW2 ‘40s skirts, gloves and veiled hats. Black satin numbers with promenade sleeves that scream ‘widow’, ‘burlesque’ and ‘My Fair Lady‘ all at once. Oh yeah, and they did get that spot at LMFF. Tane will be holding up the laptop to the runway and Kira will be Skypeing from Convent Gardens. Nah…they’ll both be there.