Georgia. Vetements SS19

July 16, 2018 | Design & Culture by Ed

This was Demna Gvasalia‘s most personal Vetements collection up to date, and definitely, the one that had an extremely powerful meaning. Or rather meanings, since the number of messages the designer and the anonymous fashion collective sent out this season is far from being singular. If you’ve been obsessing over Gvasalia for a couple of seasons now, you surely know his background, the war-torn Georgia. It’s here where Demna and his brother Guram grew up together in the ’90s, and all the atrocities happened – specifically, in 1993, when the Gvasalia family had to flee their home in Sukhumi after the entrace of soldiers and bombing.

“I tried to face this angst and fear and pain in this show. I didn’t want to remember before, I didn’t want to go that far.” Something changed. With more than half of the models coming from Georgia, an extremely long wedding table set up under a bridge in Périphérique (an area in the outskirts of Paris, where migrants live in encampments along the highway) and music blasting, anything could happen in the middle of the haute couture week. But nobody expected that there will be war on the runway. From sweatshirts with the most vulgar Russian slogans (even though these words are quite very justified in case of the suffering Georgia went through) and lots of camo prints to masked men in leather gears and over-sized jackets covered in Georgian, Ukrainian, Turkish and USA flags (a nod to current nationalist tendencies across the world?), one sees lots of untamed aggression in this collection. Moreover, Demna commented on the current national affair in contemporary Georgia, connected to clubbing. One of the pieces had a phrase on, this time in Georgian, saying: “God Forgive Us.” The designer noted that “they’ve recently closed down clubs in Georgia. A line of priests came out to block the protest against it.” Injustice and repression of the youth, that continues to strangle the nation up to today, frustrates the designer. No wonder why. After all, it’s Gvasalia who has contributed to the revival of that reckless, ‘whatever’ attitude in the fashion industry since the first moments of Vetements’ existence.

But other than the history-heavy feelings, there were garments that respectfully nodded to Georgian heritage, like the fringed rug dress or the elegant, pleated bride (or widow) gowns. Still, everything had the stamp of melancholia, mourning. That wasn’t a typical Vetements collection that makes you want to go out for a major booze party. So, will the average Vetements customer, driven by the cult of sweatshirts, t-shirts and sneakers, get anything that’s deep about this intense collection? People don’t want to read long paragraphs about history, especially in the era of social media. Thankfully, the brand found a solution that will educate the eager ones. A Vetements app is about to be released, and it will teach the users on Georgia and such events like the “Ethnic Cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia.” How promising is it to see that fashion is no longer just about clothes and revenue.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Hubert. Givenchy Couture AW18

July 14, 2018July 14, 2018 | Design & Culture by Ed

Clare Waight Keller puts Givenchy back into the spotlight – I doubt I’ve got to remind you who dressed Meghan Markle for her wedding day. But Clare’s latest collection – the haute couture one – establishes her even further as the right person behind the label found by the late master of chic and elegance, Hubert de Givenchy. It was a magnificient tribute to the man, who built the image of Audrey Hepburn and was one of the most crucial pillars of 20th century fashion. After his death in February, the brand – and it’s creative director – were sure that the genius has to be embraced to the fullest. “Having met him, and the fact that he passed three months ago, he felt very present in my mind; his legacy felt like something that needed to be celebrated,” she said backstage. “Everybody knows his work with Audrey. But less so the capes, the peekaboos, the architecture, the flou. . . . It was a wonderful trip for me to discover it and reinterpret it my way.”

It’s true – there’s so much connected to Givenchy in fact, and Waight Keller refreshed that to the contemporary audience. The iconic LBD (Little Black Dress!) was there, but with a hood (which could have been a modern Breakfast at Tiffany’s look to wear to be honest); this spectacular, caped ivory gown accessorized with a silver metal harness appeared; delightful plissé silk and sophisticated draping were present in nearly every look (Hubert would adore that); meticulous embroideries and feather aplications were as well on the runway, in excess. The collection was rich in references, but Clare didn’t get trapped by them at all. In overall, it was a refined, glorious line-up that makes you reassured of one thing – Hubert De Givenchy’s creations are timeless, and people like Waight Keller are talented enough to make them look desirable and modern.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Chic. Sonia Rykiel Couture AW18

July 14, 2018 | Design & Culture by Ed

Julie De Libran, who successfully leads Sonia Rykiel for the last couple of years under her creative direction, decided to enter a new field with the brand – just on time of its 50th anniversary. Opening a haute couture line felt quite unexpected, since the founder of the house never really ventured into such bourgeois echelons of fashion. However, to a surprise of many, the collection represented everything that Rykiel stood in the past, and stands for today: female independence; easiness; joie de vivre. At first, I found this collection as lacking edit. But when I looked at it again, I noticed all of its true grace. From that evening gown with black feather insert and a huge blue ribbon belt that Kristen Owen wore to Małgosia Bela’s fringed knitted vest-dress, those one-of-a-kind pieces looked frivolous and chic. Note that over-sized cardigan made of different yarns (styled with see-through dress) – gorgeous, isn’t it? The only point of the collection that could have been done differently was the closing look, bride look spefically, which was basically a Martin Margiela knock-off from 1991. Even though De Libran had good intentions – to convey the spirit of a liberated wedding look, with denim and feathers – it’s important to give credit where credit’s due.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Not Your Average Ballerina. Acne Studios SS19

July 12, 2018July 12, 2018 | Design & Culture by Ed

I guess many designers, hearing the word ‘ballet’, would go for all shades of pastel pink, do fancy layers of tulle, or keep it ‘sensual’, yet coldly strict. Jonny Johansson, the mind behind Acne Studios, proved in his spring-summer 2019 collection that when fashion collides with ballet, the result doesn’t have to be one of those well-known clichés: or your average, pretty ballerina girl, or that kind of cigarette smoking, drowning in beige lady who’s in fact a ballet teacher. There was something of the incredibly colourful Ballets Russes and their distinct vibrancy; maybe, it’s Edgar Dégas’s Petite Danseuse gone very modern, wearing flip-flops and sneakers after the rehearsals in some other dimension; or maybe, the ballet mood got conveyed so smoothly thanks to the placement of Merce Cunningham posters on t-shirts and jackets. Well, whatever the secret is, Johansson captured the energy, the strength and the beauty of ballet in a very profound way. Also, I adored the way he divided the collection into four ballerina ‘stages’: rehearsal, onstage, off-duty, and evening. From flowing pleated skirts and bodysuits to tracksuits and tuxedos, it might be a wardrobe of a ballet dancer – but don’t take it too literal, as it all looks so approachable and realistic.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

That’s a Party. Miu Miu Resort 2019

July 11, 2018July 11, 2018 | Design & Culture by Ed

Back from Italy and back to the journal. Now it’s the time to catch up on all the shows that took place during the end of June / beginning of July couture week in Paris. Miu Miu is first up, and it’s not even couture (although it had more flow and fantasy than some of the biggest haute players – Dior and Chanel, I’m looking at you).

Oh boy, we didn’t have a show like this for a while! Miuccia Prada‘s fashion spectacle was staged in the lobby of The Regina Hotel, and you surely know thanks to Instagram and all that Uma Thurman, Stranger Thing’s Sadie Sink, Chloë Sevigny and Gwendoline Christie all walked the show. But there was Naomi Campbell and Rowan Blanchard too, as well as Miu Miu’s classic pack of models, from Adwoa Aboah to Lily Nova. With Madonna’s sensual Justify My Love as the soundtrack, the collection featured everything that’s glamour: feathers, coat-dresses, leopard spots, chic fluffy flip-flops. But the presence of Roman Polański in the front row suggested also another, darker plot twist behind the collection. Rosemary’s Baby seemed to be written all over the line-up, noting the sheer nursery dresses and Lucan Gillespie’s very Mia Farrow haircut (done spontaneously, just before the show). The collection, in overall, is refined and mysterious, but joyous and carefree. Aren’t those Miu Miu’s all-time credentials?