“Sexual Selection” is what Christopher Kane called his intriguing autumn-winter 2022 collection. All things sensual, erotic and kinky are Kane’s aesthetic vocabulary, and the latest offering is a sharp range of the designer’s favourites, as well as some new experiments. Coded references to mating behavior in nature – plants, animals, humans – have always been embedded in his work. This time, he drew a comparison between bird of paradise plumage and the blue-red-yellow of the tulle strips he draped into semi-sheer dresses – one of them had a black harness – with bodices laid over the breasts in the same material. That’s just for starters on Kane’s menu of fetish-y fashion play. He did it with outright skill in slick, black, wipe-clean cutaway dresses – pointy bras and gathered skirts suspended on matrixes of gold snake chains. There’s a fine line between sophisticated hinting at something and blatantly putting it out there. Wearers of Christopher Kane have appreciated his skills in that direction for ages. In these 34 looks, he’s done his thing – using double-take materials like wool faux fur, slinky gold chain mail, and white net drapes in all kinds of wicked ways.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.