COSTELLO TAGLIAPIETRA | SPRING / SUMMER 2012

Clinging to every curve, waist and thigh, the latest collection from American brand Costello Tagliapietra exuberantly highlights the delicate female shape in vibrant glory.

Ruches, drapes and silks combine to create delicious ripples that cry for luxury and attention in a selection of sumptuous caramels, mauves and burnt ambers.

Partners Jeffrey Costello and Robert Tagliapietra have created a more than elegant selection of feminine dresses that play with hemlines – mini dresses daring for a cocktail, midi lengths asked to be waltzed along the beach, and dresses that exotically dip down to the naval.

Flashes of lightening blue and spicy corals weave in and out of the erratic floral patterns, creating confident pieces that take formal wear to a much sexier intensity.

It’s the statement waist ties, and the touch of spaghetti straps and one shoulders, the billowing tulip skirts that create such a girlie extravagance.

The beautiful hourglass, the body hugging emphasis throughout the collection clashed with the love affair with spring blossom is where the delicate and romantic undertones are best felt.

The grown-up approach to pop colour – freezing blue, sensual jade green and secretive navy enhances all the figure-honing details Costello Tagliapietra have established themselves for.

And just in case their floaty summer dresses get too much for their avid fans, they’ve incorporated powerful leggings and sleek cropped trousers to fit in with every woman’s lazy summer evening wardrobe.

- Hannah Gale