Nina Ricci has gone through a bit of an evolution the last few seasons, and Spring 2013 was a bold statement about the brand’s direction. Peter Copping, the creative director, has been known to favor soft colors and gauzy fabrics worked with subtle details. And he did retain much of that with this collection, but it was injected with a dark sexiness that revived some of the limp colors shown lately. Nina Ricci got kinky!

The suite of black trousers, dresses and extremely skinny pencils skirts that opened the show were adorned with zippers (some functional, some pure embellishment) and layered with strappy bondage accessories. There were tons of plays with transparencies, gorgeous blush and acqua chiffon dresses skimming over the body and revealing some very sexy lingerie underneath. And let’s not forget the sexy librarian looks (sweet buttoned up cardigans paired with seductive skirts and styled with french twists and eye-glasses).

While the fantasy/fetish/bondage tropes referenced are far from risque at this point, in Copping’s vision they still worked. You felt the energy of this woman, of this story unfolding as the show moved along into evening-wear that seemed to literally break free from the ties that bound (skirts and pants so tight one imagines a fetish with cutting off circulation perhaps?) earlier in the show, and culminated in looks with shimmying fringe and cloudy layers of billowing chiffon. -RS (Images via Vogue.com)