Hair Wars, Crochet, and the Impending Zombie Apocolypse at Chris Benz

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Chris Benz's Spring 2013 presentation was an exercise in restraint for the designer. We don't mean that it lacked the color play, experimental patterns, and overall verve of his usual fare: It had all of those things. But he stitched together the collection with a little less luxe fabrication and a little more attention to repositioning the line "at the contemporary—or upper contemporary, as the industry has taken to calling it—price point," according to WWD. Speaking to the shift, he told us, "We have such a great fan base and there's so many people that love what we do, we really just want to give people that same lovin' back."

And don't we all appreciate a little lovin'? The collection, which was inspired by a zombie apocalypse, presented a ton of layering. Over-sized tops fell over skirts over rolled trousers or jeans (perhaps a necessity for keeping hands free while running away from the flesh-eating undead. It's not recommended to wear Benz's heels while doing so, however).

Between the patterns that were possibly chosen from someone's couch, the hauntingly woodsy white dresses and headbands, and the shawls that appear like grandma got a little too liberal with the crochet hooks after the senility set in, the line screams B-movie Americana horror flick with an upbeat flare. If any of that sounds at all bad (or confusing), hop over the jump and find that it's not.

The presentation itself was riddled with the industry's famous folk, from Susan Sarandon to Anna Chlumsky to Hailee Steinfeld to Kelly Osbourne, but Benz was nonplussed. He shrugged, "Oh, it's always sort of the same. Kind of like Groundhog Day." (He's sharp on his movie references these days, no?)

After the models cleared out, photogs swarmed Osbourne and Benz for a hair wars photo op. In one corner, Osbourne sporting a pale-purple knot a la Cindy Loo, and in the other corner, the man of the hour with his tried-and-true pink 'do (Osbourne's lips, for the record, matched his hair). We would call it a draw because hers was taller while his was brighter, but then, he's Chris Benz. And Chris Benz wins the hair war every time.
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