50 Shades of Black. Alexander Wang AW15

February 16, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

“Our customer wants black, so why not do an all-black collection?” Oh dear. It’s the most commercialised sentence I ever heard from anyone in the industry since I started writing. Alexander Wang, really? REALLY? Does this mean, that the label totally went for the masses and decided to be ruled by the customer? Creativity means, that you give an idea to people – this means, that your idea is accepted or not by the person buying, analysing or observing your work. But saying that if they want black, then lets give them black makes me want to puke. Well, the Alexander Wang X HM capsule was already a bad sign (lets not deceive ourselves – the logomania prints and all that polyester & neoprene stuff was dumb). But after this totally black collection (except few pairs of jeans and one white sweater) I lose any respect for Wang. Aside from those Frankenstein boots, everything is so retail-friendly. Every rich teen girl would die to look like Kendall Jenner in one of these black dresses… and, she is going to get it, ’cause Wang knows that the “customer’s always right”.

Gris. Jacquemus Pre-Fall’15

January 29, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

Jacquemus gets commercial… and this is his first pre-fall collection. This look-book is not the thing you would expect from Simone Porte – his usually naive, colourful collections are contradictory to this mature, sharp and, as the name suggest, grey-shaded pre-fall. The background seems to be disturbing, too – factories and desolated beach… if talking of the clothes, we can observe exaggerated shoulders, school-uniform lengths and rounded “panels” jutting out of the skirts and tops. Personally, I prefered Jacquemus being more… conceptual? Not that muted?

Fringe. Proenza Schouler Pre-Fall’15

December 10, 2014 | Design & Culture by Ed

Pre-Fall offered them a chance to revisit the hits from Spring, dig further into their back catalog, and begin testing out ideas they’ll put on the runway for next Fall in February. Fringe dresses, tessel skirts, but now knitted, voluminous tops and a slouchy way of wearing. The clothes were in other words really good. But it feels that Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough start to get commercial. In 2015, their 8th store will be opened! So no wonder why they keep consistency. The clothes aren’t so “one-season” as few years ago. And if looking at pre-fall 2015, this is clearly visible, knowing Proenza- those are old hits framed into a new look-book. Whether it’s good or no- pre-falls and resorts are usually about more commercial fashion. Hopefully, Lazaro and Jack won’t change into mass-production corporation for their read-to-wear.

P.s. Forgetting “commercialism”, Proenza Shouler boys made a convincing case for the covered-up proportions with a long cable-knit sweaterdress buttoned up the back over one of those pleated knit skirts. And those fringed heels are major.