Paris

Men’s – Beauty in Distortion. Y/Project SS20

| Design & Culture by Ed

Glenn Martens loves distorting volumes at Y/Project, and it’s an in-house signature coming each season from the brand. But this season, twisting, elongating, bending and deforming proportions of garments resulted in flowing, organic, even beautiful silhouettes. The tailored jackets and coats were turned inside on themselves. Chevron stitching on knits pointed downward past the double-zippered fanny packs to the super tightly fitted leggings below. Country wax and workwear jackets seemed to be violently grabbed at the collar and pulled upward. It’s quite incredible what Martens and his team do to their clothes, they sort of defeat physics. Womenswear was as well rotating around a similar idea of self-mutating garments, but it really surprised in case of fabrics that were used. Would you ever think of lace at Y/Project? The over-sized, black button-down dress worn over a beige shirt made of the same lace reminded me of Prada autumn-winter 2008, where Miuccia as well layered lace. But of course in a whole different way… Y/Project doesn’t stop to excite.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Men’s – Design Exercise. JW Anderson SS20

| Design & Culture by Ed

For his spring-summer 2020 collection for men (and resort 2020 for women), Jonathan Anderson took an approach he applies at his Loewe. While discussing J.W. Anderson‘s latest collection, the designer mentioned that it’s “not about a styling exercise, but a design exercise.” Part of it was working on cutting away the sleeves of trench coats and tailored jackets to construct geometric wings and leave a drape in the back. He said he’d developed that silhouette after the “ideas about the ’40s and billowing shapes” that he’d shown previously in his womenswear collection. The deconstruction of the tuxedo dressing continued into lapel scarves and dress shirts. There’s no gendered distinction in these clothes. “All sizes can wear that,” he said. Meanwhile, the less ‘formal’ part of the collection consisted of patchworked knits, cable-knit head-bands, shoes made of multi-coloured felt (depicting a sort of pointilist landscape) and flowing, crotchet shawls and dresses. All this feels very warm-hearted, artisanal,  beautifully folkloric even. While Anderson nails each season at Loewe, lately I wasn’t that convinced about the work he did for his namesake brand. But this collection is one of his best.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Men’s – Telling A Narrative. Bode SS20

| Design & Culture by Ed

Two weeks after winning the CFDA Award for Emerging Designer of the Year, Emily Adams Bode has another major achievement behind her belt: her first-ever Bode runway show, in Paris, not in New York. That’s a smart move. Men’s New York fashion week has an extremely low visibility, while Bode, a brand that possibly has the brightest, sustainability-forward concept behind it in the entire industry, needs a fair spotlight. The label’s off-kilter pieces reinterpret antique quilts and domestic textiles in a workwear context to create new narratives. Each collection harmonises disparate elements, repairing and preserving materials that would otherwise be lost, thrown away. The designer produces modern heirlooms that nod to folkloric craftsmanship with hand-stitched accents and panelled constructions. For spring-summer 2020, Bode focuses on the same idea, but with a different background. As she explained backstage, ever since launching her menswear label three years ago, she has been waiting for the right moment to present a collection inspired by her familial ties to a bygone wagon workshop based in Cincinnati that produced ornate creations for Barnum & Bailey and the Ringling Brothers. “It’s about being able to tell that narrative of the historical techniques and fabrications and then [figuring out] how we can bring this to market in larger way,” she added. An intricately embroidered coat or a suede jacket with hand-stitched florals might have been the nods to her season’s reference. The clothes that impress with detailing were put together with Bode’s classics – vintage-y, short-sleeved shirts, striped, cropped pants, over-sized overalls. I’m a huge fan of Bode and its philosophy, and it’s not the first time when I’m saying this. Big hopes for winning the LVMH Prize in a couple of days!

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Real Life. Balenciaga Pre-Fall 2019

| Design & Culture by Ed

Lately, all designers want to do clothes for ‘real life’. But it’s Demna Gvasalia who actually started that trend-not-trend, first with Vetements, then with time at Balenciaga. The pre-fall 2019 look-book, that sees models walk with their phones in front of their faces or making calls, is all about Gvasalia’s Balenciaga best-selling classics: sharp tailoring, denim, over-sized volumes and exaggerated logos. It doesn’t excite much, as it feels like a transition from the summer show from last October to the winter collection we’ve seen in March. But it’s a pre-collection after all. And it’s hitting stores at this very moment.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Always On The Go. Givenchy Resort 2020

| Design & Culture by Ed

For Givenchy‘s resort 2020, Clare Waight Keller digged into the idea of a wardrobe that’s suited for travelling – from daily commuting to long distance voyages. Or, for people like Clare, who travel from London to Paris on a weekly basis, occasionally do shows in Florence (Pitti Uomo is approaching and Givenchy is this year’s guests), dress celebrities for the Met Gala in New York and check on the brand’s ambassadors in Cannes. That’s a busy schedule, and the wardrobe should be ready for anything. “What I’ve seen so much around me, and with my colleagues and friends, are the challenges of dress today when people travel so much,” she says, then laughs, pointing to one of her Resort images of a girl who has a lanyard phone pouch around her neck and a tote in one hand. “The two-bag situation. That is exactly how my life is!” For women, Waight Keller did faux-fur coats in pink and leopard print, as well as masculine coats with military buttons and sharp shape, a beige jumpsuit perfect for entire week and some really, really gorgeous eveningwear which included intriguing lace work. I somehow missed consistency in all that, but still, it’s a wardrobe of staples, ready for very different occasions. Menswear was stronger in this collection, maybe due to the model casting (that blond hair makes anything look good), maybe because of the Givenchy motorcycle helmet which stole the spotlight. Or, it was all because of this fluidity between sportiness and tailoring. A motocross sweatshirt over a shirt and tie, a green 70s suit styled with sneakers, major outerwear put together with over-sized denim pants. There’s something very Riccardo-Tisci-era Givenchy about it, but done without overhyped prints.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.