All The Tales To Tell. Victoria Beckham SS24

October 1, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

This Victoria Beckham collection felt kind of undecided. Preceded with a fragrance line launch and Kim Kardashian’s late arrival to the fashion show, Beckham’s spring-summer 2024 outing offered many ideas of what this brand could be. But when there are too many answers available, the picture becomes foggy. One good thing about it: the designer is finally overcoming Philo-mania (which she might replace with a Jenna-Lyons-obsession, judging by her appearance in the front row and all the big glasses the models wore), and seems to go her own, aesthetic direction(s). Beckham’s collection was founded in her teenage memories of the intense classic and contemporary ballet training that eventually got her into musical theatre. Taking her starting point in the unassuming rehearsal wardrobe of ballet, she reflected the current fashion climate’s inclination for reduction but invigorated her stripped-down silhouette with intriguing gestures of motion. Simple jersey T-shirts with droplet décolletés were suspended from wire in ways that freeze-framed the movements of ballet and injected the clothes with character. Beckham exercised the same ideas in dresses and knits worn as dresses, all quite abstract but easy to wear. She rendered the collection in the faded pastels of Degas’ ballerina works and Monet’s paintings of haystacks, as well as the metallic effects of his iterations on the Houses of Parliament. Then, the designer went for the style of British countryside. Next to boyish country tailoring and field jackets, she mirrored her idea of infusing clothes with character in the antique furnishing textiles she’d seen around old houses outside of London where she spends her weekends, from tablecloths to curtains and everything in between. They inspired the embroideries and general eccentricity of tea dresses that embodied the 1930s spirit, which lately characterises Beckham’s silhouette. As far as storytelling went, these clothes certainly had some tales to tell.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Hi-Tech Chic. Coperni SS24

October 1, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Coperni stands for blending the fascination for technology with contemporary garment design. Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant dialed down on another big noise moment, focusing on the clothes. Almost. The hi-tech came first, via flat speakers by Transparent, integrated into an opening leather jacket, a men’s sleeveless T-shirt, and other pieces. Many of the models wore small devices on their chest: these were produced by a start-up named Humane and called AI Pins: apparently when released very soon they will “enable contextual and ambient computer interactions”. But even without all these developments, this was a decent, thorougly-considered line-up. A white lace-detailed dress was strewn with 3D printed “flowers” that were generated by cymatic production. A skirt in metallic herringbone was meant to mimic the casing of an old-school microphone. The collection found its eye-catchiest tempo when contemplating older technologies. Vaillant asserted “the triangle is the smallest instrument and makes the loudest noise” in the orchestra: the insertion of triangles into the backs of jackets and the necks and waistlines of evening dresses was immediately arresting. Brass was represented by a trumpet-bodiced dress, and near to the close came a resoundingly volumed black dress.

Normal Extreme. Loewe SS24

October 1, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Jonathan Anderson’s Loewe was a dialogue between the normal and the extreme. He proved that we can have both at the same time. The spring-summer 2024 collection kicked off with an Anderson statement of reduction, where cardigan-dresses were knitted with a loose gauge and fastened with beaten gold buttons, blown up to playful proportions. The silhouette from the designer’s recent menswear show – high, high trousers and a cropped shirt – influenced a couple of womenswear numbers. Anderson is a master of making mundane clothing spectacular, and the spectacular clothing, astonishing. Take the leather shorts which were pinned with a sewing needle crafted in gold-toned metal, artistically holding the pleats in place. On the other hand, two tops were created from crystal-encrusted flowers, hanging together like one sculptural piece. Skirts were all about the art of asymmetry to create pleats that fell like an accordion down one side of the leg. The designer also indulged in proportion play: things that aren’t usually massive, like a ring, were huge. Jeans were wide wide. Cocoon ponchos were so comfortable you just wanted to wrap yourself up inside it. But then, in true whiplash fashion, Anderson presented silk dresses that effortlessly flowed down the runway, topping the chest with a pin-punched square.

Love! Rick Owens SS24

October 1, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Rick Owens still believes in love. “Considering joy a moral obligation, I propose a stark elegance,” Rick Owens wrote of his highly romantic collection veiled in fuchsia and yellow smoke bombs and rose petals shot out of canons across the courtyard of Palais de Tokyo. “I use it because I’m determined to find joy in life. Because moping around is lazy,” Owens said after the phenomenal show, referring to his use of the word in the show notes. Isn’t his moping around part of the reason we love him? “I know, and I’m good at it. That’s my superpower. But I can’t be lazy and just fall into it. You can’t be passive. You have to be a top,” he smiled. It generated a show that felt like a melancholy march for joy. Models with funeral veils wore narrow floor-length skirts elevated on platform boots, embroidered evening dresses that looked as if they’d been bandaged, and voluminous jumpsuits styled with majestic capes. A palette of black and delicate grey faded into lilacs, passionate reds and golden cognac. For years, Owens conveyed in his work a deep sadness for cultures and environments in decline. Now, he’s being more constructive. “Well, that’s why I talk about hope so much. I allow myself to think about hope because in the history of the world there have always been evil forces, but somehow the good forces have always managed to barely overpower. Because we’re still here. We managed. So, you just have to have faith in the force of goodness.” Don’t think the Rick Owens show was all rose petal confetti, though. “Everything dies,” he said, concluding his pep talk for hope. “Things do get destroyed and something else happens. Everything dies. We always forget that. We’re always trying to be immortal and have things last forever. ‘Oh, they’re [bringing] down this building and it’s a historical monument.’ Well, everything dies. And things replace it. So, that’s my hope-slash-doom message,” Owens smiled. As the underpinning of one of the designer’s most moving and ravishing collections probably ever, it was an empowering one.

Allina, The Idol. All-In SS24

September 30, 2023September 30, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

This very solemn and somewhat regal Paris Fashion Week, some much-needed sass and fun was delivered by All-In. Benjamin Barron and Bror August Vestbø, the design duo behind this brand, have a habit of building their collections around imaginary characters. This season we met Allina. She might be the last real pop star (sorry, The Idol‘s Jocelyn, that’s not you), a slim, blonde diva who leans into an air-brushed kind of glamour. The collection features Allina’s merch, like a very mini tube dress featuring an image of the pop sensation. As Barron explained, the garments related a tale “about Allina’s fall from fame, so it starts off with her as the ideal form of herself, but then things start to unravel as she ages.” The sense of things coming apart was conveyed by a black sequin décolleté and backless minidress with diamanté trim that used negative space to dramatic effect. It looked as if it had been cut away from the top of the thigh to below the knee; a piece of fabric hanging from the back of the skirt connected the top half of the look to the bottom. Allina’s “attachment” issues were illustrated by the looks that had hangers attached, from which hung vintage slips that were more granny than glam, to chart the diva’s aging and fall from fame. Said Vestbø: “We used a lot of mixed materials that felt a bit pop star Las Vegas, like crystals and sparkles and short skirts with these kind of old woman references, like the tin cans or long nightgowns. There’s also a powder puff.” These assemblages also played with the concept of putting up a facade, which was also addressed in a more immediately relatable way in the sweater dress worn by Delfine Bafort. The hem had been extended and only the front was attached to the body of the sweater, which was worn on top of the body. It was suspended by ropes of pearls at the neck, leaving it backless, and the model’s hands slipped through the cuffs, creating a batwing effect. The result was a sort of paper-doll flatness that was very intriguing. Up until this point, All-In’s practice has had Surrealist touches and collage. Helping to ground All-In a bit as it prepares for growth, Lotta Volkova, who has modeled for the brand, worked with Barron and Vestbø on the creation and styling of this campy, bitter-sweet collection.