Peter Som
by Marilyn Kirschner | photographed by Yannis Vlamos

Peter said he was inspired by "the seductive beauty of orchids, mixed with the bold confident strokes of John Singer Sargent paintings" for his fall collection. And that translated into orchid and green petal print t shirts, blouses, shirtdresses, and lame dresses (which were most often mixed with other fabrics for interest).

While there were some nice cocktail dresses (I liked the white short bustier 'gimlet' dress with a wide black band at the bodice) and a few gowns, this time the day portion was the star. There were wonderful hefty cashmere and sweater knits which were done in eased up, generous proportions and worked well over skinny pants (the standout was a loose charcoal cashmere short sleeve sweater worn with a paler grey worsted wool fitted pant). There were also some terrific furs (broadtail is PeterÕs pelt of choice) and he worked them in interesting ways—using embroidery to add texture and a collage effect. One piece was a flyaway back jacket in bittersweet worn with one of his petal print silk voile shirtdresses, and another was his flannel broadtail embroidered coat which was thrown over a green shimmer chiffon twist tank and chartreuse layered duchesse satin skirt. This is a season for coats and the trench never goes away. The black Teflon faille short trench was enlivened by having a fuchsia chiffon shirtdress underneath and adding a chartreuse belt to the waist. Le Smoking is another genre that was touched upon—there was a black smoking suit with a while silk and cashmere organdy blouse, and a black and cashmere organdy tuxedo blouse shown with back sateen fitted tuxedo pants.