Delpozo

The audience at the Delpozo Spring 2015 show on Wednesday would not be surprised to find that Creative Director Josep Font began his design career as an architect: his extraordinary collection was all about inventive shapes and gravity-defying construction.

Subversively chic, wearable sculptures suggested a trip as surreal as Alice in Wonderland: the outsized, extreme A-line dresses, bell-shaped swing skirts, peplums, and ultra-wide culottes stood apart from the body.  Enormous bows, origami-ish petal sleeves, and draped lapels complemented the exaggerated inverted pleats and chunky, sky-high platform wedges.

Font told Interview the primary-color palette—sunshine yellow, cherry red, a green/blue/white trifecta—was inspired by German-born artist Josef Albers. “The bold, graphic, strong colors, which gives visual impact,” Font explained.

How exactly does the architect-turned-designer enable his clothing to stand apart from the body?  “Interior construction, pattern making, very organic draping, and exacting cuts to create the volume and keep it that way,” said Font. “Also, I use natural paper made into fabric through the same process that produces linen.”

Font was appointed Creative Director of the venerable Spanish fashion house in 2012 after presenting four haute couture collections in Paris, under his eponymous label, from 2008 to 2011. He usually combines two different focal points of inspiration in each collection. “The sculptural shapes began with the land art of Nils Udo, who uses nature—fields, flowers—as landscape art, as his canvas,” said Font.

The second half of the collection, which was delicately feminine, featured beaded embroidery inspired by 19th-century glass artists Leopold and Rudolf Blaschkas. “They made crystal models of flowers and marine animals—jellyfish, anemones, starfish, seashells—in order to study them,” explained Font. Daisy appliqués on soft pastel chiffon and tulle spun like cotton candy into fairytale dresses, completing the journey into a fantasy world.

For more from New York Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2015, click here.