Reviews

Men’s – Loud. Raf Simons AW19

| Design & Culture by Ed

While everybody expected to see something rather melancholic from Raf Simons this season, just a month after his abrupt, yet understandable exit from Calvin Klein, the designer surprised us all with a collection that’s experimental, bold and as loud as Whispering Sons – a Belgian post-punk band that played live during the show. Even Laura Dern screamed in the David Lynch film stills that were scattered all over the garments. Not only drama’s up in Raf’s autumn-winter 2019 collection. Volume as well. But in case of the designer, this doesn’t neccesarily means a bunch of XXL sweatshirts (that I actually no longer can look at this season…). Yes, Simons makes tailoring great again, especially when it comes to coats. Whether in satin, camel or leopard print, the silhouette is nearly floor-sweeping and utterly entrance-making. While the Instagram feed went mad for the blush-pink ensemble, I personally fell in love with the black, woollen number tied with a matching belt. Love seeing Raf doing Raf

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Men’s – Rustic on Acid. Acne Studios AW19

| Design & Culture by Ed

Acne Studios’ designer, Jonny Johansson, isn’t the guy you will see all over the Paris fashion week Instagram feed. He’s an outsider. Or even, a double-outsider, as he dubbed himself in a Vogue interview. “Because we’re from Stockholm, which is from way outside [the fashion world], plus I’m from the very north of Sweden, which is way outside even Stockholm.” Being ‘outside’, to a surprise of many, has major advantages in fashion industry – you’re different, and you offer something different. Acne Studios always feels slightly off-beat, raw, but not nothing close to the stereotypical image of cold, Scandinavian minimalism. For the men’s autumn-winter 2019 collection, Johansson delivered clothes full of soul and energy. The designer mused on mid-century bohemia and counterculture in the fringed poncho-sweatshirts and acid-palette coats and jackets worn unbuttoned, over naked torsos. Snake-effect leather and cow-print pieces were very Americana, even rustic. Wear that extra long, ecru scarf when it’s cold. Use it as a blanket when the sun comes out. Don’t be afraid to step into mad in these colourful, trekking boots. Jonny loves the idea of a city escape, whether it’s the forest or the mountains. He works with this ‘weekend traveller’ notion for a while, and seems to enter the season with a similar spirit.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Men’s – Quite Clean, Really. Givenchy AW19

| Design & Culture by Ed

Clare Waight Keller nails it lately at Givenchy. Her men’s autumn-winter 2019, presented for the first time separately from women’s, proves that she feels more and more confident in creating a guy’s wardrobe. “I went into my own self, really, back into the ’90s, and how I felt when I was really young, how we’d dress on not a lot of money. At Givenchy we have young Parisians from schools here, and there’s this same perverse poshness, wearing tailoring in a really sharp way, with a shirt or T-shirt,” she said during the intimate presentation that took place in Paris today. “Quite clean, really.” Polished, slim-fit trousers and leather jackets dangerously looked like Hedi Slimane’s Celine, but the other part of the collection – the more elegant – is where you can completely loose your mind for. This tailoring. See the flared trousers, that came in deep red, cerulean blue and dark purple. Waight Keller attributed them to the “softness and fluidity I like for men”. Some looks had a sensually highlighted waist, something that’s having a graceful return to menswear. There was lots of elevated sportwear, but nothing will beat this one, simple look made up of a white shirt, just partially tucked into the waisted suitspants. Less is more is a cliché, I know, but in case of Waight Keller’s Givenchy, it’s just right.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Men’s – Moving Bodies. JW Anderson AW19

| Design & Culture by Ed

Undoubtedly, Jonathan Anderson‘s leap from London to Paris resulted in an even more uninspiring men’s London fashion week this season. Well, good for the latter. J.W. Anderson kicked off the Parisian schedule with a brilliantly diverse collection, made up of the boys’ autumn-winter 2019 and the girls’ pre-fall 2019. At a first sight, ‘chaos’ is a word that comes to your mind while going through the collection. The models wore medieval-esque hoods with over-sized bermuda shorts, boldly striped tops and huge bracelets. Another look had fringed trousers, an exaggerated sailor collar and an absolutely distorted knit that no longer can be classified as a sweater. The women’s part was rich in polka-dots, XXL shirting and equally voluminous dresses worn over hoodies or with huge pussy-bows. The venue, filled with Paul Thek’s art installations, was a mash-up of vintage rugs, floor drawings. And of course, there was this huge, balloon globe. Everything here seemed to be full of some unidentified energy. Those garments had the vibrance that instantly reminds of Bodymap, the London-based brand that was on everybody’s lips in the 80s. Whatever stood behind the collection this time around, one thing’s clear: Anderson does it again. The strange and odd looks familiar and desirable. I’m extremely looking forward to get those zebra-print socks.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Men’s – The Heart Still Beats. Prada AW19

| Design & Culture by Ed

If there’s a designer you can count on, it’s Miuccia Prada. For two reasons. She will always deliver intelligent, multi-faceted fashion. And will take a grip of the contemporary matters like no other. Her men’s autumn-winter 2019 and women’s pre-fall 2019 was a dark outing. Well, why would it be optimistic? Today’s world is a bad place. Europe suffers from the rise of rightist governments. There are absolutely no reasons to be happy with Trump, just as with Macron, Brexit and Putin’s actions over Ukraine. Paweł Adamowicz, the liberal mayor of Gdansk, Poland, was brutally stabbed yesterday at a charity concert, and his death is all over the news today. Of course, mentioning such politically-charged tragedies next to fashion might sound completely out of one’s mind. But not in case of Miuccia, who acknowledges the world as it is and wants her viewers to be, at least, aware.

While military elements often come as fashion fads, the ones that appeared at Prada looked serious. They are the brand’s codes since the 90s – if you’re an observant Prada fan, you will have this raw, defiant ‘image’ in your head. Some of the models looked vulnerable with their pale torsos exposed. Others seemed to be even invisible in their grey, loosely fitted suits. The big crotchet heart, attached with a safety-pin to the blazers, was a simple, but beautiful metaphor of a heart that’s still beating, yet insecure and… terrified. “Basically it had to be a romantic show. And mainly I was interested in the understanding of humanity: weakness and the more delicate and naked aspects of humanity also. The rejected… It was set against a very tough world—that is why war and military was in the air,” the designer explained. Of course, there were – at a first glance – brighter details that made the collection digestible from a solely visual perspective. Which is completely understandable, as it’s a Prada fashion collection, after all, not a poetic Ann Demeulemeester line-up from the early 2000s or some soft of art performance. Although, I guess, Miuccia might wish for having that freedom. “To make it not boring and for the fashion – because fashion has to be light somehow – we borrowed the symbols of trashy horror movies. From ‘Frankenstein’ to ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ and all those movies. Frankenstein is the example of the monster with a big, big heart who searches for love.” The heart’s still beating.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.