Flea Markets. Vetements AW18

January 22, 2018January 22, 2018 | Design & Culture by Ed

Shown in the corridors of the Paul Bert Serpette market, north of Paris, Vetements autumn-winter 2018 collection left me with very mixed feelings. As the fashion collective’s main representative, Demna Gvasalia, summed it up, “we took it to the flea market because that’s where it always begins.” But the clothes, and the styling, didn’t only resemble a trashy thrift shop aesthetic. The designer, who has worked for years at Maison Margiela, decided to openly refer the brand and its legendarily anonymous designer as the main source of inspiration. Diet Prada, the passive aggressive Instagram fashion critic, has already criticized Demna’s choice to do the Margiela tabi boots in the show – like, what’s the sense, if we’ve got the original?

But as for me, it’s not only about the Margiela factor that makes this collection so problematic. Vetements wants to convey the feeling of real authenticity in their clothes. For instance, Demna went to the kindergarten next door to the Vetements studio in Zurich and set the children the project of making illustrations for the T-shirts. The models, who walked the show, are said to be ‘really’ dressing like this on the daily. The clothes do look like old and tattered, and that’s the entire sense behind them. But aren’t they being manufactured from new materials before they hit the stores? If not, then the 1000 euro price tags are a complete absurd. If yes, well… I think you get this kind of hipocrysy. I really do love people who consciously dress in a ‘cheesy’ and ‘trashy’ way, go to flea markets. But dressing up in Vetements to look ‘disruptive’ is somewhat a non-sense. It’s like wearing a t-shirt of a band you’ve never listened to.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Flaws We Need. Balenciaga SS18

October 4, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

Demna Gvasalia and irony are two synonyms – and you know what I mean, if you’ve seen at least two Vetements collections in your life. This season, Gvasalia wanted to do more of ‘him’ (that we know from the Zurich-based fashion collective) than dig into the Balenciaga archive. Less Cristobal, more wit and edge, but still with a strong, technical side. Coats with attachable extra sleeves, that in fact can be called a two-in-one at same price; head-to-toe money bill motif all over tea-dresses; charm belts decorated with toruist-friednly Eiffel Tower figurines; peplum tops in pink camo, a combination that sounds and looks so devastating that it’s good. This hilarious collection is a pun topped on another pun. A tongue-in-cheek comment regarding the rush for the senseless, up-and-coming trends. The clash between bad and good taste, being a result of endless street observation of how today’s society dresses. That’s what Gvasalia does best. And it’s even more thrilling to see him doing that very anti-fashion thing at Balenciaga, a fully established brand with stores all over the world. But the list of pieces that catch your eye in this collection is much, much longer. The already cult ‘Knife’ boots kept in a 2000s desktop print (think cheesy sunset or a postcard view of mountains); platform crocs made in collaboration with, yes, Crocs, in the most killing shade of yellow; reversible ‘rain coats’ for handbags; high-heels covered with studs and lots of tartan checks were clear signs that the designer is having an obsession with the punk subculture.

Strangely, or not, but I’m a sucker for those Demna-ish flaws and oddities. I think it’s something the superficial world of fashion needs to be ‘wake’ and relate to today’s world.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

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.

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’.