A lavender world enveloped Christopher Kane’s show today as the runway and benches were decked out in a parma-violet carpet. But just when you thought this indicated a kitschy 70’s theme, out came sharp, modern black pinstripe suits, long tuxedos (some in ponyhair), loose leather trousers and smart little belts—a far cry from last season’s schoolgirl innocence.

Imperial-style dresses then emerged, pulsing with metallic wood-grain prints in deep indigo, held in place by thick black leather piping. They crossed, wrapped and knotted, hinting at a Japanese Orientalism. But Kane doesn’t do literal; he subverts it. For instance, the velvet embossing on sheer dresses and pencil skirts looked like antique tablecloths. But there was nothing antique about it. Rather, it suggested: out with the old and in with the new. A sea of reds infiltrated the second half of the show, in which Kane took the iridescent sheen of techno fabrics and magnified it to electric reds so bright they almost looked neon.

Powerful yet right, shocking yet endearing, the collection will have you unpacking his message for days.