Routine Absurds. Balenciaga Pre-Fall’17

April 28, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

Demna Gvasalia had spandex boots on his Balenciaga runway. He did gargantuan, big bazaar bags. The Georgian designer has even proved us that corporate dressing is not just for Angela Merkel and her wardrobe. With his every hit (and they get edgier and edgier with every season), the clothes you would rather burn than call ‘fashion’ become somewhat sudden objects of desire. Pre-fall 2017 collection is the best prove for that, as all of Gvasalia’s biggest moments at the house are refreshed and reminded. And they look fire. Every single piece. Even a scarf tied under the chin (we live in 2017, so it’s a ‘babushka hood’…) in intense fuchsia looks brilliant. A nod to Gvasalia’s Soviet origins? Probably. But feels so contemporary, even if you know it’s NOT.

Daily routine has its ~~trashy, cringey, cheesy,~~ but beautiful absurds. Just some food for brain.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki; styling by Lotta Volkova; photography by Harley Weir.

Manolo and Vetements

April 13, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

Shopping for labels, shopping for love
Manolo and ~~Louis~~ Vetements, it’s all I’m thinking of.

Vetements X Manolo Blahnik, seen at The Store in Berlin.

Eerie Chic. Balenciaga AW17

March 15, 2017March 15, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

Cristobal Balenciaga’s couture in today’s world – that’s what Demna Gvasalia‘s thought about for this season. His third, womenswear show for Balenciaga was the most literal nod towards the maison’s founder up to date, as it ended with voluminous, ball gowns. But they wouldn’t be Demna, if they weren’t at the proper level of peculiarity. One of them was a walking pile of feathers, styled with a bazaar bag (also covered in feathers, from the bottom to the top). Those colossal bags, instead of conventional clutches, were another clue that Gvasalia isn’t going straight haute couture path.

If talking of more wearable pieces, the Georgian designer went for something sensually chic – and this time, it was intriguingly elegant, no jokes. Femme fatale pencil skirts (made of haute car mats), over-sized sweaters, over-the-knee boots (last season’s spandex obsession continues) – it was sexy and eerie simultaneously. Although Demna has established his Balenciaga classics – the bags, duvet jackets, killer hills – and might already rest on his laurels, he thrives to develop a continuous language at the brand, every time with a new twist and new perspective.

Stereotypes. Vetements AW17

January 28, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

Last week was about so many things going on in Paris. Menswear shows, which were especially good this season; haute couture collections that were so boring or, hmm, boring I just couldn’t find the energy to write about them. And then there was Vetements autumn-winter 2017 collection for both men and women – this one sparked the discussion immediately. At some point Demna Gvasalia and his collective had to slow down with doing viral sweatshirts, or else a day would come saying the brand burnt out. Good for them – the latest collection distinctly differs from the previous ones, in its structure and the idea behind (no sleazy sex-clubs; no Juicy Couture collabs).

Vetements is a brand, which authentically origins from the streets, and this season the collective literally took all their urban observations to the Centre Pompidou venue. There was the emo girl with her black hair, black-everything gear; a Milanesa, an elderly lady who knows what’s chic in her fur coat; chavs in tracksuits and football-team scarves; corporate secretary aka Lotta Volkova; Coco ~~Chanel~~ lady in her pearls and tweed; IT nerds and perversely looking geeks. There was even a badass bride – a nod to the glossy anti-Vetements world of couture. Stereotypes function in our society and no wonder why Gvasalia decided to mess up with them. If you want to push Vetements’ AW17 into any trend report, good luck then – start from ‘military’ and end on ‘German tourists’.

Men’s – Corporate Cannibal. Balenciaga AW17

January 18, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

Paris Fashion Week started very well with Demna Gvasalia‘s second menswear collection for Balenciaga. The anticipation was unbearable and the Georgian designer’s outing was worth a wait. Last season, Demna focused on subverted, masculine version of couture – the custom-made jackets and Cristobal Balenciaga’s archival male coats were the starting point of the theme’s exploration. For autumn-winter 2017, Gvasalia continued revisiting men’s elegance, but in even more off-beat away.

Corporate dressing is something the designer likes to tease and reconstruct a lot – the first looks were ankle-lenght coats with big shoulder pads, strict white-shirt-and-tie looks and leather blazers (torso revealing, of course). But don’t expect neat and business-perfect: the models had nothing, but super-long socks under their coats – à la Soviet ‘sexual maniacs’, who used to scare children in the parks. ‘Corporate’ also relates to those terrificly ugly post-office jackets, which were revamped into covettable puffas and distorted bombers. The bags were pure irony – post-office boys carried huge, Ikea-like totes, mature ‘businessmen’ had their little clutches, while the twisted-entrepreneur types – Balenciaga shopping bags (in leather). Maybe, the last ones had some Balenciaga gifts for their after-hours, secret lovers. Who knows. But that’s a different story.