The Wolf And The Lamb. Coperni AW23

March 6, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

The Coperni guys seem to have perfected the art of a viral fashion moment. After last season’s finale dress that was sprayed over Bella Hadid’s body, for autumn-winter 2023 we had a pack of robotic wolves – Boston Dynamics canines – violently undressing Rianne Van Rompaey from a blanket wrap. The thing about these viral moments is that the moment they stop flooding social media, they aren’t really expanded by Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant any further. The “spray” technology wasn’t actually used in the production of Coperni’s summer collection, while the unsettling performance we’ve seen in their latest outing in general felt flat after a second thought. What else makes me quite skeptic about the label’s “new” approach, not only in its bold use of technology, is its inspiration with Alexander McQueen. The new collection seemed to be referencing a number of McQueens show – the infamous “Highland Rape”, for instance, oozed from the ragged lining of Coperni’s dresses, just like the red tights and even the hair styling. Ok, lets move on. What all of that actually meant? The creative duo leaned into their model of shaping shows around a futuristic mise en scene by recruiting the cyber-canines to play their part in an updated retelling of French fabulist Jean de la Fontaine’s The Wolf and The Lamb. Said Vaillant: “It’s a beautiful story that talks about the balance of power between different groups. Instead of the wolf and the lamb we reinterpreted it as humans and robots.” Glossing over the fact that De la Fontaine’s original is actually a pretty brutal demonstration of the relationship between force and self-justification, this was an interesting literary device for the show. The collection featured a loose underlying riff on Red Riding Hood. The models walked out in inverted collar capelets in black and tweed before we saw looks featuring adapted versions of Gustave Doré’s illustration of the fable, featuring a robo-dog instead of the wolf, and leather trousers fringed in low-grade off-cut leather skirts. There was a pivot into emoji-based pieces: a real-life handbag shaped after the messaging equivalent, and gathered dresses pinched by appreciative hands. Yet again, the big concept overshadowed the designers’ clothes. And these guys actually know how to make great clothes, so it’s a pity.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Family. Andreas Kronthaler Vivienne Westwood AW23

March 6, 2023March 6, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

The latest Andreas Kronthaler Vivienne Westwood fashion show was charged with a spectrum of emotions and a beautiful, beautiful homage to the late Dame Vivienne. The sadness of her physical absence was tangible, yet her spirit was conveyed throughout the vivid sense of her creative legacy in her husband’s autumn-winter 2023 collection. And Corra Corré, Westwood’s grandaughter, was the show’s magnificent bride, which made this family affair even more moving. “She left things very clear,” Andreas Kronthaler said backstage. “And she finished a lot of things that she wanted to finish.” He added that the collection she had mentioned in the memorial film shot by her brother Gordon – her latest attempt to bring down capitalism – will be shown in London soon. “But she wanted me to use this one,” he said of the collection shown this Paris Fashion Week: “We worked on it together a bit. I brought her things home mostly and showed her. I thought of her in everything I did, about what were her favorite pieces: full skirts, petticoats, things that reminded me slightly of Buffalo Girls. I remember her first telling about it when we first met, back at the very beginning. In a way it was also about her, coming down from the North and changing the status [of fashion].” The platforms, the minicrini (made more midi), that corsetry, the pirate boots and jerkins, the drunkenly undulating gathering and drape, and the gender-fluid mix-and-matching were all present in a collection that was overwhelmingly crafted from deadstock. The trachten-tinged Tirolian overtones in darkly autumnal brown gilets and some of those full skirts were Kronthaler-originated nuances that have long been assimilated within the broader Westwood canon. More personal touches included the eye make-up that Sara Stockbridge’s tears had smudged, a tribute to Westwood’s own, and the pavé and metal pigs that were widely used as accessories. These referenced a wooden good luck charm that Westwood had acquired many years ago and kept on her mantle. Said Kronthaler: “I do think it’s a very good thing to do, to continue, not stop anything, or make big decisions. Because you need to process things and you need to go through: it’s something which happens to everybody. I thought I was very well prepared. But it’s very strange.”

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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What’s Hot (6.3.23)

March 6, 2023March 5, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Chaotic-Good. Victoria Beckham AW23

March 5, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

The autumn-winter 2023 collection was Victoria Beckham‘s most daring offering, ever. At first, it overwhelms with its chaos, and there are moments when you wonder whether each look is a start of a separate collection. But when you realize the collection is inspired with “Grey Gardens”, things start to get clear. It gets chaotic-good. Beckham’s show invitation showed a portrait of Drew Barrymore, reprising her role as Little Edie in the mentioned cult movie. She’s a friend, from when Beckham and her family lived in L.A. “It’s not the first time I’ve talked about ‘Grey Gardens’,” said the designer. “But I don’t want to take it literally. It’s more about being a bit more eclectic, having fun; almost like a little girl playing dress-up.” Checking back to what she did last season, it read as an evolution of the elongated silhouettes she was establishing then, with some gutsier demi-deconstructed tailoring strengthening the line-up. Anyone who still associates Victoria with business-perfect dresses might be surprised, though. There was none of the short-and sucked-in left here: instead, there was a much more relaxed and generously inclusive approach to shape, generally a modernized version of 1930s-ish silhouettes. So too with the tailoring – Beckham’s interpretation of the wide-shouldered jacket, optionally worn as a dress, looked spot on for the season. She didn’t mention the word ‘surrealist’, but that’s how a couple of her dresses happened to read, especially when styled with trimmings of acrylic hair extensions, inspired, she said, by work of artist Solange Pessoa. Who knows, maybe Victoria Beckham will turn into a designer known for free-spirited non-chalance?

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Eye-Popping. Nina Ricci AW23

March 5, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

It’s a new day at Nina Ricci. After years of either inconsistent visions of various creative directors or viral ideas that never went beyond the runway, the historic Parisian maison needs an assertive path to take in order to be a name that sparks true interest and desirability among contemporary customers. Harris Reed, the young designer known for his gender-fluid approach at his highly-dramatic, London-based namesake label, and dressing super-stars like Harry Styles and Florence Pugh, is here to refresh Nina Ricci. His debut collection was a loud and bold statement filled with over-the-top shapes, eye-popping colours and psychedelic prints. First modeled by Styles at the BRITs, the tailoring looked like it took its cues from Bianca and Mick Jagger’s matching 1971 wedding suits – down to the extra-wide brimmed hats. Runway-spanning circle skirts leaned perilously close to costume, just like most of the offering. And then there was the show-closing hobble skirt – the model who wore it deserves a prize for not toppling over. Except for all the camp-y looks and downpour of gimmicks, there was no depth in this debut or wider understanding of the brand. Not speaking of actual ready-to-wear, which was pretty much non-existent… Where Reed is way out ahead of most of the Parisian brands is with his cast. Precious Lee opened the show, and as she vamped for the cameras, it was a reminder of the too narrow and old-fashioned visions of beauty seen elsewhere this week. Clothes-wise, Reed has a long, long way to go.