Sometimes the line between a collection appearing tightly focused (good!) and narrowly unambitious (bad!) is so fine that whatever side you land on feels arbitrary. This Orla Kiely offering danced prettily enough - but often rather dully, too - right down that line.
Kiely is a national treasure who has starred on Irish postage stamps along with her blockbuster petal print. However, even for a confirmed fan of the designer's brand of idealized nostalgia - a less cutesy, more graphic, more womanly mix than Cath Kidston's outright kitsch - Pre-Fall '16 felt like a collection resting on 2-D-print laurels.
Finely executed cropped Chinese knits with broad ribbing at mid-arm and midriff bore blown-up intarsia reliefs of a flower silhouette that we saw again (and again) on monochrome silk pants, a full-skirted, frill-waisted shirt-skirt, and a gold-buttoned jacket, as well as on more knits. Cotton floral-embroidered dresses and skirts in navy, plus a pleat-bibbed blouse with golden shirt studs were cute and affordable. Maybe it was because the contra-colored florals felt a mite autopilot that the one-colored pieces invited the eye more compellingly: A halter-neck navy school dress and a tiered, gently gathered navy knee-lengther at the end of the line were both strong. Two high-buttoned, double-breasted duffle coats, one cut short and one long, looked sweet enough.