Elephant Crinoline Skirt (Side View)

Walter Van Beirendonck’s Winter 2010-2011 collection ‘TAKE A W-RIDE’ included crinoline underskirts with 3D shapes of guns, space ships and – as this silhouette illustrates, elephant heads - protruding from beneath the clothing. The crinoline elephant head in cotton and artificial whalebone was translated from Beirendonck’s design by specialist pattern maker Elke Hoste. The look was completed by Stephen Jones’s giant felt top hat for horseback riding, capping the garment’s pseudo-equestrian theme.