From Simon Ekrelius, a designer who worked in couture almost exclusively until 2006, comes “Stardust”, an autumn/winter 2010 collection made up of spellbinding oppositions. According to Ekrelius, the collection is the story of a stargazing space goddess who believes the stars to be more like diamonds than glowing balls of light: Ingrid Bergman in a futuristic Casablanca escaping on a UFO, rather than an airplane, at the end. But the basis of the design is rooted in the past: Le Courbusier’s Phillips Pavilon, constructed for the 1958 World’s Fair in Brussels, inspired the silhouette of the entire collection.
     The end result is highly structured shoulders on fitted dresses, jackets, a one-piece jumpsuit, and multifaceted skirts that jut away from the body creating a diamond-like shape similar to the stars that surround Ekrelius’s imagined space goddess. His detailed construction gives the collection a strong, authoritative presence, but paired with organza and silk the collection retains a distinct femininity.
     The prints for “Stardust” complete the Stargazer story — brightness bursting through darkness, streaks of grays and yellows against dark backdrops. In this, Ekrelius successfully binds future to past; couture with ready-to-wear.