Overload. Balenciaga AW24

March 5, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

“What seems truly rare and finite right now is actually creativity itself,” Demna said backstage at his autumn-winter 2024 Balenciaga show. “I believe that creativity has secretly become a new form of luxury.” As a big admirer of Demna’s work, however, I must admit I found the creativity part missing this season. The collection felt like AI-generated line-up of the designer’s now-trademark style codes, with plenty, plenty of references to Martin Margiela. Of course, it’s not the first time when Demna goes Margiela, but this time I found it quite redundant. Taped clothes, deconstructed dresses patchworked from other garments, square-legged boots, denim pants worn as tops… the list goes on and on. This season’s Balenciaga tribe – gum-chewing, septum-ringed, eyes wrapped in futuristic silicone masks – marched headlong through a digital AI–aided visual cacophony playing on hundreds of wall and floor screens. “Photoshopped into the fake reality, into basically the overload of content that is killing our society, in a way. You know, like TikTok videos,” the designer said of the immersive experience. It did say a lot for the human brain that there could be any attention spared for the clothes at all. Well. I felt absolutely exhausted somewhere mid-show. But maybe it’s the fashion month that hits hard especially during the last days of Paris Fashion Week.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Don’t Bother Me. Comme Des Garçons AW24

March 5, 2024March 5, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Rei Kawakubo goes back to black. Her Comme Des Garçons collection was simply titled “Anger“. “This is about my present state of mind. I have anger against everything in the world, especially against myself.” Global conflicts, wars that seems to have no ending, general social unrest. Kawakubo seems to be angry at herself for being in the fashion industry, for its schemes and formats, and for being a designer herself. She instructed some of the show’s models to go out and vent, to break the fourth wall that divides the runway from audience. The third model, dressed in black polyurethane exploded-flare pants and a biker-jacket cape, suddenly did a massive clenched-fist stamp of frustration in the middle of the runway. Another model turned and loomed over some people in the front row, confrontationally invading their space with a bow-front pannier skirt. The constructs of extreme historical tropes of femininity – the pileups of rosettes, panniers, bows, and pompadour wigs – seemed to be on the brink of sarcastic self-parody. But then, a bride in white appeared in the show’s finale. Maybe there’s some light of hope at the end of this dark tunnel?

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Wild Things. Andreas Kronthaler Vivienne Westwood AW24

March 4, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Wild things were going on at the Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood runway this season. The autumn-winter 2024 show’s bizarrely eclectic adventures in time travel unfolded around some highly entertaining performance art by Sons of Sissy, a trio of dancers and musicians who blended pagan ritual with high camp and impressions of birdsong and weather events – the bum drumming was a particular highlight. With Sam Smith, Lila Moss and Amelia Hamlin on the catwalk, Andreas Kronthaler presented a collection that was inspired by a Giovanni Battista Moroni exhibition in Milan, and also by protective sportswear (jockstraps were seen all over the line-up). Signature corseted gowns with exaggerated frills and ruffles were juxtaposed with super revealing menswear and jersey materials. Grotesque can be fun and intriguing, but sometimes it might get out of hands.

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Need For (Self)Reflection. Alexander McQueen AW24

March 4, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Séan McGirr‘s debut collection for Alexander McQueen was the most anticipated moment of the season. Maybe that too emotional anticipation has caused all that unnecessary critic-turned-into-hate that has spilled all over the internet? Yes, McGirr’s first collection for the brand leaves you with a confused impression: who is this new McQueen for? What’s the sense of the brand without even one person in it that was actually close to Lee (Sarah Burton filled these shoes, sometimes too monotonously, but at least coherently)? Should Alexander’s work be that literally referenced? Still, please give that young designer, who started his job in December (not even three months ago…), a moment for (self)reflection. Some of his ideas, like making the brand more “assertive and hedonistic”, sound somewhat promising. But to make any sense that appointment, I think McGirr should try looking for the hungrier, grittier, darker and naughtier in himself, and not just revisiting and remixing Lee’s archives.

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Misplaced Classics. Carven AW24

March 4, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Louise Trotter‘s sophomore collection for Carven signals that Paris has a new go-to brand for unconstrained elegance. “I have continued to develop the wardrobe archetypes, the everyday made precious, brought to life in unexpected context, fabrication and proportion. The allure of being dressed up and yet in stages of undress; a space where there is no separation between daywear and evening and where typical daywear silhouettes and fabrics morph into atypical occasion or evening wear. Misplaced classics infused with the comfort and ease of sportswear,” the designer summed up. From the restrained and tonal palette to the masculine-feminine permutations of fabric and shape, there’s a lot to covet. Interestingly, Trotter acknowledged the brand’s history. Madame Carven’s legacy was alive in the column and hourglass silhouettes. And all that stunningly styled by Suzanne Koller. More and more industry insiders are lured by the new charm of Carven, so I expect it to be firing up any second.

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