Gassanoff proved that true talent doesn’t need to play to the algorithm.

How do you get clothes talked about without thinking of them for the screen-mediated, bidimensional era?

Galib Gassanoff’s spring show provided a great answer as he seemed to put reverse thinking at play. Starting from 2D squares of fabric, he turned them into sculptural shapes whose fabulousness only came across when seen in movement and in real life.

To be sure, their dynamism infused a very distinctive fluidity into the collection — a novelty approach for the Azerbaijani designer, who has made a name for himself with the razor-edged, architectural monumentality of his clothes.

None of it was gone, but it was juxtaposed with lighter creations done in billowing georgette, cotton bouclé and frescolana, with silhouettes leaner on the body or moving with it.

Under the frescoed ceiling of the Sant’Eufemia deconsacreted basilica, the audience’s eye was often deceived by Gassanoff’s constructions.

Squarish shapes appeared as tubular sleeves seemingly attached to crackled leather trenchcoats cut at the waist (where was the armhole exactly?); as the front and back panels of bouclé tops and jackets with frayed hems that had a graphic, statuesque quality to them, and as folds that doubled up as small capes along the arm- and shoulder-lines of terrific blazers. Squares were also gathered in rouches and drapes at the collar and waistline of billowing frocks done in shiny silk or puff-of-smoke georgette.

A series of fiery red looks — associated with marriage in the designer’s native country — added a dissonant note to the color scheme.

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