When It Gets Hot. Isabel Marant SS20

September 29, 2019 | Design & Culture by Ed

After reviewing Rick Owens’ latest collection, looking at Isabel Marant might feel like being abruptly taken back to Earth. But the consistence of Marant has its charms, even if her eternal Parisian woman escapes the city. Spring-summer 2020’s beach-life girl (and boy) look forever appealing while wearing sleeveless knits, slouchy denim pants and vintage-y, washed cotton jackets with big, confident shoulders. Loosely-fit jumpsuits and festival boots are another highlights. In the end, when summer gets stinking hot, this is what you really want to wear (well, maybe the leather overall – this can wait until next September).

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Tecuatl. Rick Owens SS20

September 28, 2019 | Design & Culture by Ed

“Stoic Bauhaus Aztec Priestesses in Art Deco Valhalla,” was how Rick Owens described this season’s collection, which took place on a bubble-filled runway in the backyard of Palais de Tokyo (“like something out of Disney’s ‘Fantasia’”). Owens’ latest womenswear offering is fire. It’s so, so mind-blowing! But those outer-space goddesses haven’t come up from nowhere. With this collection, the designer honored his 87-year-old Mexican immigrant mother (the collection’s title, Tecuatl, is a nod to Rick’s grandmother’s Mixtec maiden name). Owens was raised in the United States, lives in France, and manufactures his clothes in Italy. “That all wouldn’t work without open borders,” he summed up, alluding to the fight in the USA over a border wall with its southern neighbor. Back to the collection and its models: they looked like ethereal majesties in their towering platform boots and Aztec-slash-Metropolis-inspired headgear. The Metropolis reference is no coincidence. In between the lines you could read in Owens’s fantastic vision a criticism of Donald Trump, who’s called Mexicans “animals” and “criminals,” and worse. Fritz Lang’s antiauthoritarian masterpiece depicts a grim underworld peopled by mistreated workers, i.e. the migrant farmers and other undocumented immigrants who do the hard labor that keeps America’s upper classes fed. But back to Rick’s stunning, beautifully disturbing fashion: exaggerated shoulders of jackets, architectural tabard skirts, odd protrusions jutting from pelvises… this all desires a loud “WOW“.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Y/Project SS20

September 28, 2019 | Design & Culture by Ed

Glenn Martens of Y/Project is a virtuoso of distorting, elongating, deconstructing and, simply speaking, creating silhouettes that at the same time have a historical twist. Many of the spring-summer 2020 looks jumped in time: the 1890s black satin evening dress, the bustle now transplanted to the plunging décolleté; the 1930s lingerie boudoir slip, buttons slithering down on the bias, with lace trimming the bust; Belle Epoque velvets clashed with 2019’s love for exaggerated forms. Eveningwear is big this season at Y/Project, also because it brings a strong female sexuality. The daywear was classic Glenn Martens: a voluminous trench coat, a shirt-dress with an odd collar, a mint track-suit draped in a way that it looks couture.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Sweet, Sweet Times. Paco Rabanne SS20

September 28, 2019 | Design & Culture by Ed

Nostalgia has conquered fashion, and nothing can be done about that. But some designers make it really, really joyous. Paco Rabanne‘s Julien Dossena is a great example. Since his last spring-summer collection for the brand, something finally clicked and the designer finally seems to be feeling more confident with his vision for the brand. Chain-mail dresses aren’t the sole focus. He looks at the Paco Rabanne heritage from another angle. “He was utopian, not dystopian”, Dossen says of Rabanne. The 1960s and 1970s, when Rabanne was the bright new thing, were times of limitless optimism in France and for the enviably stylish and beautiful people who were part of a generational awakening. Julien took 1970s pop and psychedelia under the lense, creating something carefree and fun. “A dreamer and a realist…symbols of naiveté rather than nihilism.” A big red heart was placed in the center of the bodice of the first dress he sent out, and repeated in men’s chain mail top in the finale. “To me, it’s about a kind of strength. Being proud of being nice and kind. It’s something that I value now,” said Dossena. “I don’t know if that makes sense visually, but it’s what I’ve been thinking about.” The puffed-sleeve lamé blouses and the skirts, and the mod pants suits (based on templates pioneered by Françoise Hardy and Prince) were the collection’s major highlights, just as the juicy Guy Bourdin colour palette. A standout piece? The patchworked leather jackets with rising sun and cosmic planet motifs. It’s a delightful line-up, which instantly lands on my ‘season’s favourite’ list. Also, this collection will sell like hot buns, I think.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Simpler. Chloé SS20

September 27, 2019 | Design & Culture by Ed

It’s Natacha Ramsay-Levi’s fifth season at Chloé, and she decided on some changes. Less over-sophisticated details, boho prints and messy accessorising for spring-summer 2020. “I’m thinking of it as chapter two for myself. I’ve tried a lot of different things; I thought, let’s simplify – be honest and true.” While such approach results in less ‘show-stoppers’ for magazine editorials (and stuff that always ends up on heavy discount), this collection proved to be one of her strongest in a while. Where earlier Ramsay-Levi might have avoided familiar Chloé-isms, like the particular shade of creamy peach associated with the brand since Karl Lagerfeld’s days, here she used them a lot: the show ended with a pair of long, graceful pleated dresses in the color. Micro-floral-print frocks were styled unbuttoned and worn over a silk bra and trousers – the look had a romantic, vintage feel. Making things simpler really works from time to time.