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Baptista unleashes zippers

You would have been forgiven for thinking that Felipe Oliviera Baptista’s spring-summer 2012 ready-to-wear collection Wednesday was sponsored by the zipper industry.
France Fashion Felipe Oliveira Baptista
Models wear creations by Portuguese fashion designer Felipe Oliveira Baptista for his spring-summer 2012 ready-to-wear collection presented this week in Paris.

PARIS — You would have been forgiven for thinking that Felipe Oliviera Baptista’s spring-summer 2012 ready-to-wear collection Wednesday was sponsored by the zipper industry.

There wasn’t a single look in the entire collection of box-shaped shirt dresses and extra-wide blazers that wasn’t sliced, spliced or diced by copper-coloured zippers, their sharp little metal teeth gleaming menacingly.

More often than not, they were zippers to nowhere, with little purpose beyond the purely esthetic.

Still, many of the looks were catchy: You could imagine the square-shaped little dresses in silks or knits — zippers bisecting their ample sleeves up the back — making the leap from the runway to the street.

The same went for a colourblock cropped pantsuit, its slim legs scarred by zippers.

Other pieces, such as hooded ponchos in a patchwork of gauzy silk colourblock, looked sure to remain consigned to the catwalk or the pages of glossy fashion magazines.

After all, who’s really dying to wear something that looks like a rain slicker but without the distinct advantage of being waterproof?

In addition to his own signature line, Portuguese-born Baptista Oliviera also designs for French sportswear giant Lacoste.