If we were to be magically transported to a Tsar’s court in
nineteenth-century Russia, the dazzling halls would surely feature the most
beautiful ladies wearing F.R.S, whose sumptuous robes de chambre, eccentrically
sophisticated languid palazzo pyjamas, and long opera coats in precious brocades
are the object of intense desire.
As though released from a literary and romantic fantasy, a
Russian dream unfolds in the mysterious atmosphere of the woods, is steeped in
the misty horizons of the steppes, glides into the fragrant warmth of the
dachas, and is exalted in the spiralling music in the grand imperial halls. This
voluptuous and sentimental heart is the inspiration for the winter collection
from F.R.S., which celebrates sophisticated and exotic femininity, and is modern
in recognizing the value of elegant passion and the desire for timeless beauty.
Precious fabrics enhance the deceptive simplicity of the contours. Fluid silk
velvets of imperceptible weight are printed like costly tapestries, worthy of
gracing furnishings of regal workmanship, or are hand-embroidered to become more
desirable than a jewel; jacquard brocades and silk twill with textures and
prints that evoke pictorial and naturalistic themes, inspired by period
paintings with wild and smooth atmospheres. Curly Xingao fur accentuates the
instinctive sensuality and tender sensitivity that pervade the entire
collection. The colours are deep, with dark, velvety glints, and they bring out
the seductive charm of crystals and semi-precious stones: garnet, onyx, peridot,
topaz, malachite, tourmaline, citrine quartz, and obsidian. The stylistic
variations on established forms like classic men’s pyjamas - a dressing gown
that can adapt to become a trench coat, an overcoat which is an extension of a
man’s shirt but is easily transformed into a woman’s décontractée robe-manteau,
or palazzo pants that can be worn in multiple combinations - are expressed
through progressive and discreet adjustments and shifting. A constant factor
throughout is timeless and flexible personality, providing endless possibilities
in the art of combining, an extremely modern attitude that defines the character
of F.R.S., as original and contemporary in its allure as it is reluctant to obey
fleeting and changing fashions and trends.
