Emilio Pucci A/W 2014

Peter Dundas' 'Call of the Wild' Pucci collection could have easily signified an animal print stampede for his gilded runway. In actuality, though, the Pucci girl roared with a much more sophisticated sensibility this season, playing off the noble roots of the Florentine brand, but wrapping it up in a still smoking hot package. The fil rouge in Dundas' work for this venerable Italian house is the way in which he reinterprets classic notions of print. Though he always plays with printed motifs - in this case a historic motif called 'Orchidea' - Dundas' real passion is put forth in the intricate knit patterns, the elaborate embroideries and the mouth-watering fur intarsias, all of which are a new way, his way in fact, of expressing the classic Pucci graphics. This season the motifs took on a Navajo meets Inuit tribal quality, a cross between the two cultures this half American, half Norwegian designer feels a natural affinity for. The results, especially when mixed with spotty appaloosa pony skin, yards of metal studding and racy lacy high stiletto boots, was graphic, punchy and yes, wild, but in a savage chic sort of way.

Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans