From the Garden of Eden of last season to Noah’s Ark, there was but one small step for Kobi Halperin. In his second Paris runway show — held within the gilded hallways of the Opéra Garnier — Abrahamic references provided a fertile storyboard for the New York-based designer. He combined these with nods to a recent trip to Sicily in his silhouettes, fabric choices and lace and embroidery embellishments.
The show opened with references to the storm, accentuated by the thunder that threatened over the sound system. A succession of gray wool coats in a diversity of shapes came alongside pinstripe tailoring, with pants gathered mid-calf with a rear button detail and embroidered droplets and matching jewelry suggesting teardrops or the rain.
Then came the animals, with an assortment of feline motifs of varying proportions and techniques vying for attention, from printed denim to jacquard fil coupé and allover sequins. Fake fur stoles, fringing details and arrays of bugle sequins alluded to further creatures perhaps, playing into a more dressed up repertoire, while leather looks were more structured and had a darker aesthetic. Halperin’s frilled maxidresses and blouses with lamé details were right on brand, and there were full lace skirts in a similar register.
Halperin accessorized his designs with delicate gold jewelry, from rose-shaped brooches and lapel pins to giant stars in guise of earrings and abstract mesh shapes that covered parts of the face — or body, in the case of a bralette and chains worn with an A-line pony skirt and cropped tuxedo jacket.