During my musings on 2007's 22nd Hyères festival of fashion and photography, I wondered how Peter Bertsch, a Royal Academy of Antwerp grad, who won the prize of creating a collection for French high street retailer 1,2,3, would translate his 'Bionic' collection of moulded PVC pieces, voluminous proportions and unconventional fabrics to something a bit more 1,2,3.

Well, the collection is now done and dusted and up on the 1,2,3 website and I think Bertsch has produced something of a ‘soft’ continuation of his ‘bionic’ pieces.  If he was exploring the balance between fragility and strength with his award winning collection, then he has upped the fragility for 1,2,3 using wispier fabrics and shapes with less curvature and more ‘flow’ (I couldn’t really imagine the giant bloomer capri pants turning up...).  The combination of an accessible group of separates and pretty dresses and the good call on fabrics and colour palette makes this collection most appealing, especially for my immediate SS08 need to contrast pretty softy softy with tough hardy hardy.  (Did I just make up fashion baby-speak?  Oh dear...).

Priced between EUR80-EUR180, there are a few pieces I have my eye on and the priciest dress is definitely one to buy at the upcoming 23rd Hyeres festival (they normally have a selection of all the 1,2,3 Hyeres collaboration pieces to buy...) to wear immediately in the lazy sunny atmosphere of the Villa Noailles.  Ok, so I’m a wee bit excited to be sunning it up out there again in April and I guess Peter Bertsch’s collection for 1,2,3 is a warm-up to that.  For the lucky Parisians and Brussels-inhabitants, the collection will be hitting the 1,2,3 stores there. 

I also love that the campaign images have used Popel Coumou, the photographer who won the photography prize of last year’s Hyeres festival as the strange take on perspective and sharp lines sits very nicely as a background to the excessive ‘flou’.