Demna’s Chapter. Balenciaga AW16

March 11, 2016 | Design & Culture by Ed

Something new is afoot Paris, and it’s good. I think it’s the energy of youth, which contrasts with the old-school, corporate system. Koché, Jacquemus, Y / Project and Vetements prove that, with their recently delivered collection. But if talking of the last one, though – Demna Gvasalia leads this talented league, and pushes his vision to a much larger space of expression. And we are talking about Balenciaga now – the house, which was found by Cristobal Balenciaga in 1919, which raised the designer of our century, so Nicolas Ghesquiere, and went under a three-year period of uncertainty with Alexander Wang‘s miserable sport-meets-couture attempts. But Demna is a designer, who knows best how to create desirable fashion which is going to sell (Vetements sales turnout is the perfect example) – so, the unexpected choice of him as the creative director of the historic maison is both exciting, and reasonable.

But if you think that Gvasalia is about to change Balenciaga into a higher-cost Vetements, then you are wrong – the autumn-winter outing seemed to state visible barriers between the post-Soviet, anti-fashion soul from the eponymous brand, as it freshly implemented the spirit of Balenciaga into a modern-day wardrobe of pure edginess. Back in the days, Cristobal wanted to look into fashion’s future, and Gvasalia understands that, by giving the audience over-sized, cosmic duvet jackets, leather market bags and embroidered tea-dresses. The floral prints were a bold nod to Balenciaga’s temperament and Spanish origins – while the tailoring, also a long-forgotten signature of the house, was revamped. “How do you persuade a woman to wear a two-piece suit who is not the German Chancellor?” Grey, flannel two-button jacket and a slit pencil skirt, in which the shoulders were slightly over-sized, “was the posture and the attitude, and Cristóbal’s way of working with the body I (Demna) found interesting.“

In other words, Gvasalia’s debut for Balenciaga isn’t favoured by me, and by other critics just because it’s a debut – these clothes, the concept, and the styling are ground-breaking, and smartly look back at the rich archives of Cristobal Balenciaga. Unlike his predecessor, Demna Gvasalia looks forward to a much more creative approach, and even if we’ve seen a few of those tricks at Vetements – the new chapter at Balenciaga is the one to have on your radar.

Eerie Youth. Vetements AW16

March 6, 2016March 6, 2016 | Design & Culture by Ed

With a sexually exaggerated pre-school uniform from the Soviet times opening the show, Demna Gvasalia and the design collective behind Vetements presented more than one sin in the gothic-style Cathedral of America. After a sleazy sex-club and a cheesy Chinese restaurant, a church seemed to be the next pretty unclear choice for a show venue – however, the clothes purely defined Vetements and it’s already well know, anti-fashion approach. Calling it a street wear brand is a colossal mistake, when you see the prices of these very well-manufactured coats and dresses, but in fact, Vetements is based on the sweat-shirts, which are transformed into new volumes every season. Moving away from the over-sized one, which stormed all the retail points last season, this time the hoodies had a zombie-look – the shoulders were lost somewhere in translation, and the solemn faces of the street-cast models perfectly matched the atmosphere of the collection. The slogans, like Sexual Fantasies, just made it all even more strange and… gripping.

The distinctly American, motocross rose embroideries on knee-high boots and over-sized shirts confronted with chic, gold velvet suits. But there were also the red puffas, the next winter bite for the label’s fans. Vetements, and its leading designer, Demna Gvasalia (who has just debuted at Balenciaga, review soon!), are on the tip of everyone’s lips in the industry, and not only because their collections are filled with youthful, uncertain energy – people simply want these clothes, and want this styling. And they want to Instagram that obsession, too. Even though the latter wasn’t the initial aim of the collective…

#2015 – Vetements

December 1, 2015December 1, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

Vetements in French means “clothes” – but Vetements goes far beyond the meaning of clothes in today’s fashion industry. It exaggerates clothes. It elongates the sleeves, gives volume to cowboy boots and makes floral grandma dresses look provocative, and kind of sexy. Led by Demna Gvasalia and six other anymous designers, who met while working as design team at Maison (Martin) Margiela, Vetements is the new force which makes fashion rules feel even more useless than ever.

AW15 – Even their autumn-winter fashion show wasn’t a typical event where clothes were celebrated in a traditional way. But don’t think it was done in a fussy, Chanel way – oh no. The “creative network” of the brand took their guests to Le Depot, a sleazy sex-club, where everybody felt a mood of anti-fashion. At first sight, you might not really understand the collection – but in reality, it is not that deep in its meaning as you might think. These clothes, even though look pretty grotesque, are wearable. Gvasalia claims “as long as we can make clothes that people want to wear and they find them cool and relevant, that’s my understanding of hype”. Although the styling is complicated and well-considered (or not), separately the clothes are easy. Take the over-sized trench coat. You can wear it with everything – even if you might look like a hobo, you look like a anti-fashion person. But the thing about Vetements is, that you need to feel this anti-fashion thing. And live in it, consciously.

SS16 – For summer, Vetements presented its collection in a tacky Chinese restaurant. But, even though the SS16 mood-board wasn’t focused on China nor on Asia, it reflected the spirit of this place through old-fashioned kitsch. Floral dresses inspired by aprons of Gvasalia’s grandmother, sequined capes, velvet sweatshirts and tunics – and all of that bound up with ultra-long leather belts with Harley-Davidson-style buckles. The eerie soundtrack of the collection perfecly described the new season’s attitude – it began with gentle waltz and then abruptly descended into Mayhem – the Norwegian heavy metal group. The black hoodies featuring a print based on Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet in Titanic burst confusion (maybe one of Vetements’ designers loves / hates this film?), however the leather jackets that were constructed to be comfortable when sat on real bikes made much sense. The must-have, best-selling jeans were renewed to be more comfortable and affordable. In other words, the summer version of Vetements is rather an expansion of the last season’s wardrobe than a new idea. But in reality, it absolutely made the collection feel more desirable, just like the cowboy boots or sock heels.

2016 will be a very special year for Vetements’ leading designer, Demna, as he is going to take Balenciaga under his creative direction! And basically, I can’t wait to see his debut collection in March.

Kitsch, Belts and Grandma. Vetements SS16

October 6, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

One of the season’s most anticipated brands, Vetements, presented its anti-fashion collection in a tacky Chinese restaurant. But, even though the SS16 mood-board wasn’t focused on China nor on Asia, it reflected the spirit of this place through old-fashioned kitsch. Floral dresses inspired by Demna Gvasalia’s aprons of his grandmother, sequined capes, velvet sweatshirts and tunics – and all of that bound up with ultra-long leather belts with Harley-Davidson-style buckles. The eerie soundtrack of the collection perfecly described the new season’s attitude – it began with gentle waltz and then abruptly descended into Mayhem – the Norwegian heavy metal group. The Vetements logo black hoodies featuring a graphic based on Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet in Titanic burst confusion (maybe one of Vetements’ designers loves / hates the film?), however the leather jackets that were constructed to be comfortable when sat on real bikes made much sense. The must-have, best-selling jeans were renewed to be more comfortable and affordable. In other words, Vetements for spring summer 2016 is rather an expansion of the last season’s wardrobe than a new idea. But in reality, it absolutely made the collection be more desirable, just like the cowboy boots or sock heels.

Photography by Chloé Le Drezen

Post Anti-Fashion

August 22, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

Vetements in French means clothes – but Vetements goes far beyond the meaning of clothes in today’s fashion industry. It exaggerates clothes. It elongates the sleeves, gives volume to cowboy boots and makes floral grandma dresses look provocative, and kind of sexy. Led by Demna Gvasalia and six other anymous designers, who met while working as design team at Maison (Martin) Margiela, Vetements is the new force which makes fashion rules feel even more useless than ever. Even their AW15 fashion show wasn’t a typical event where clothes were celebrated in a traditional way. But don’t think it was done in a buzzy, Chanel way – oh no. The “creative network” of the brand took their guests to Le Depot, a sleazy sex-club, where everybody felt a mood of anti-fashion. At first sight, you might not really understand the collection – but in reality, it is not that deep in its meaning as you might think. These clothes, even though look pretty grotesque, are wearable. Gvasalia claims “as long as we can make clothes that people want to wear and they find them cool and relevant, that’s my understanding of hype”. Although the styling is complicated and well-considered (or not), separately the clothes are easy. Take the over-sized trench coat. You can wear it with everything – even if you might look like a hobo, you look like a anti-fashion person. But the thing about Vetements is, that you need to feel this anti-fashion thing. And live in it, consciously.

Vetements’ AW15 collection seemed to have a brutal, violent attitude in it, too. But this can be easily explained. Raised in 80s Soviet Union Georgia, Demna’ childhood was shaped by the aggressive gang youth culture, and the certain censorship of the USSR. The topic of Soviet youth is also repeatedly presented by another Paris-based designer, Gosha Rubchinkiy. In fact, both of these designers develop a new movement in fashion, which you might like or not – post anti-fashion. “Yeah, I like that. No one knows what it means” Gvasalia said with a laugh while being interview for i-D. In other words, Vetements should be kept on the radar during the fashion week in September, folks, because it is truly intriguing.