Everything Ancient Is New Again For Spring

Designers embraced their inner Cleopatras and Tutankhamens this season, offering fresh takes on Egyptian costume (click for slideshow). At Anna Sui, hieroglyphs provided the basis for elaborate prints, while Sophia Kokosalaki worked in a pharaoh-worthy palette of lapis lazuli and gold. Andrew Gn amped up tunic dresses with embroidered metal collars, and Sophie Buhai and Lisa Mayock of Vena Cava accessorized with slinky silver breastplates. “Fashion is about escape. It makes sense to fixate on a historical era that no one can get to,” says Mayock. “I think everyone just wants to dream right now.” We’re all for that, but it’s probably best to leave Orlando Pita’s “Nefertiti-chic” hairdos at Christian Dior to the ancients.

See a gallery of Egypt-inspired looks >