Spring/Summer 2011 – “Where the Wild Roses Grow”

For SS11 Spijkers en Spijkers were inspired by Elisa Day, or the place where the wild roses grow, a song written by Nick Cave and performed together with Kylie Minogue as a dialogue between a killer and his victim. A gloomy story about the love between Elisa and her first lover who becomes entranced by Elisa’s beauty and hates the idea of it fading. He gets so obsessed with the beauty of Elisa that he wants to kill her in order to preserve the image of her forever. He brings her a beautiful red rose and asks her if she’d like to see where such beauty could come from. He takes Elisa to the river, where he gives her a farewell kiss and then kills her with a rock. They say her ghost lingers at the place of the murder, but people are seeing only the roses and talk about them.

This theme about love, beauty, innocence and ephemerality inspired Spijkers en Spijkers to make a charming collection, bringing out youthfulness and beauty that is concealed in every woman regardless of her age. The designs are lovely and elegant and appear to reveal parts of the female body in exciting but delicate ways. Short skirts and dresses, long loose pantsuits, light blouses and summery jackets decorated in basket silk, printed crepe de chine, silk ponge and linen blends. White in combination with bright flower prints, lace and broidery Anglaise with bright scarlet red and black accents. Lovely painted floral patterns are combined with explicit graphic shapes in a manner reminiscent of a kaleidoscope. For this collection is that each design is refined and finished with decorative details such as fabric folded roses, flower lace and beaded flower embroideries.