Candy Rave. Marc Jacobs SS17

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New York Fashion Week might impress and surprise, but leave “shocking” to Marc Jacobs, who always ends the city’s schedule with a spotlight-stealing collection. And this time, Jacobs presented an ecstatic rave of his latest obsessions, inspirations, collaborators and, of course, aesthetic. At the Hammerstein Ballroom, Stefan Beckman built a huge stage splattered with grease, lit up by more than a thousand little bulbs. A perfect space for an off-beat, underground party filled with techno-music and thirsty-for-fun people. The association was right – it was the venue of the most youthful collection of the upcoming season.

Lets take a look at the collection from the bottom to the top, literally. All of the models wore platforms, which looked even higher than the ones from Jacobs’ autumn-winter 2016. I LOVE THOSE SHOES, every single pair of them. Kept in all colours of the rainbow, the killer-stompers were designed in collaboration with Julie Verhoeven (who also did a fantastic job together with the designer during his spring-summer 2002 Louis Vuitton show). Verhoeven  produced a number of fantastic, cartoonish illustrations, which appeared on the shoes, and also on the bags and some of the one-of-a-kind pieces. Looking at the clothes, Marc and his team didn’t disappoint. Candy-coloured, sheer apron dresses with ruffles; extra mini, mini-skirts in denim; fur-collared or sprouting with feathers military jackets and cardigans. This season, it’s about lifting normal pieces into nearly couture creations. Hoodies (something we are all getting sick of lately) look brilliant, also printed with Julie’s illustrations. I really do have doubts whether teens would feel absolutely comfortable in those sexy, fairly provocative and imaginative pieces on a binge – but surely, these clothes guarantee a big entrance.

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Reaching the heads of the extremelly tall models, we are getting closer to the most problematic (to some) aspect of the collection – the dreadlocks by Guido Palau. Instagram users raged Jacobs’ account with comments on cultural appropriation, calling him a ‘thief’. I’m just overwhelmed with the public’s lack of any awareness. True, corn-rows are over-used by white teens, while Indian headbands with feathers aren’t properly credited by Coachella fans. BUT dreadlocks are for everybody. They are universal. Lana Wachowski has fuchsia-pink dreadlocks. Boy George from the Culture Club-era had dreadlocks. And Bob Marley was the king of dreadlocks. Even a friend of my cousin has dreadlocks (but they look bad, though). In other words, dreadlocks are for everyone, and people should at least try to widen their horizons.

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Brave Velvets. Haider Ackermann AW16

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It’s a tough world outside and I want to have this gracefulness, this brightness, happiness,” Haider Ackermann said afterwards his autumn-winter 2016 show. “To show the other side of what we are confronted with every day.” Ackermann’s brave season is infinitely Haider, as the silhouettes, which continue to evolve from the last spring’s outing, are all about the jaw-dropping varsity jackets, super skinny pants and feminine dresses – and one of them, specifically, was cut up to the hip, looking fierce in velvet red. By coincidence, the Belgian designer moved the topic of the season’s hottest trend, so velvet (seen recently at Rochas and Vetements). It’s virually everywhere in this collection, ranging from dusty pink to emerald green. And it’s even in the hair of the models, tied up in for of colourful, quite abstract dreadlocks. Love it.

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