Rafael Cennamo dazzled spectators at his Spring 2013 collection, which featured cocktail dresses as well as elegant evening gowns. Each piece in the collection was inspired by an aspect of Japanese culture and echoed the traditional, detailed embroidery of traditional kimonoes. Each dress in the collection had detailed, embroidered beading that sparkled under the spotlight. One stand out dress was a coral cocktail dress with a white, chiffon kimono-style top.

Colors of the collection ranged from soft, subtle shades of rose, peach, coral, aqua and mint green to darker, contrasting shades of “moon mist gray” and black. Cennamo said his goal was to reinterprete the classic Japanese kimono with a mix of modern culture. He did so by incorporating the famous Japanese Cherry blossom into the dresses through intricate beadwork. A moon mist gray dress in the collection had beautiful, detailed rose colored cherry blossoms embroidered onto the fabric.

The collection was a fantastic mix of sophistication and edginess. Though the colors he used were soft, the dresses had edgy angles very reminiscent of origami. The sole black dress in the collection was a strapless evening gown with complicated oragami like angles. Cennamo described the woman who wears his brand to be strong and confident. “She knows what she wants and has a strong personality,” he said. “She wants to look good and feel comfortable and embrace the woman’s body.”

Sydney Wu is a contributing writer. Email her at [email protected]