Annalisa Dunn and Dorothee Hagemann’s Cooperative Designs have rarely stuck to conventional trends. Instead of falling for commercially popular pieces like tailored blazers or shirts, they continue to let their creativity reign free. After meeting at Central St Martins in 2007 the girls went straight on to show at Vauxhall Fashion Scout which landed them consulting positions with fashion’s whiz kid Hussein Chalayan and a stockist at the very stylist New York store, Henri Bendel. Success obviously hasn’t gone to their heads and they continue to show their collections at the same modest exhibition space in Westminster.
For their S/S2010 collection the Bauhaus movement and modernist architecture were the pair’s main point of inspiration and it’s influence is blatant with an abundance of pattern and colour in all their pieces. Knitwear continues to be at the forefront of their designs with angular pattern cutting, draped crop tops and they’ve even managed to produce cardigans with a stiff structure. Monochrome stripes and geometric shapes covered mini dresses and slouchy but not casual jumpers with shots of cyan and orange made a change from the bodice and high-wasited skirt combinations flooding the runways. The pieces were finished with striking jewellery by Corrie Williamson including DIY-looking wooden necklaces and oversized plastic shapes for earrings.
Let’s hope this pair continues to make exciting wares and stay unfazed by the fashion world’s dictatorial authority.
