After 20 years in business, Greta Constantine designer Kirk Pickersgill clearly knows his customer. So it’s no surprise that he let his glitzy clientele guide the direction of his new spring collection: Pickersgill wanted to offer cocktail dresses and evening gowns that directly reflected the recent feedback he’s gotten from his glamorous women about town. “There are so many different women wearing our clothes,” he said. “I wanted to focus on fabrications and colors that will make sure she’s always remembered.”
As one of the few Canadian labels still going strong, appeasing his customers—and retailers—is clearly a smart move that’s working. Pickersgill doubled down on his elegant approach to evening dressing, and found ways to create design exciting while keeping his core silhouettes alive. He opened the collection with a fabulous butter-yellow sequined ball skirt, featuring eight panels of organza spliced together for a heavy pleating effect—paired with a matching silk-gazer top. It felt formal yet a little more contemporary than your standard princess dress. Another one of his two-piece sets featured a shiny, floral-print top and tiered miniskirt, made of engineered sequins—a clear nod towards his younger clients.
As usual, though, it was his dresses that stole the show. Pickersgill does color and texture well, and this was seen on the strapless curved-bodice pink gown he made with fringed strips of microfiber. A red, long-sleeved chiffon dress also featured a versatile front panel that could be knotted, tied through a waist loop, or worn free and flowy. His clients may want to be prim and proper, but they don’t want fussy pieces, and even his most ritzy customers won’t say no to a three-in-one dress. “Our women want more than one way to wear a gown,” he said. “If you can offer them several ways to wear it, they’re obsessed.”
