Spring / summer 2011 for men by Haider Ackermann.The designer titled his show “A Carte Blanche Named Opium”, and the elegantly spare book (he called it a “carnet de voyage”) that was distributed before his Spring presentation in Florence during Pitti Uomo Fashion Week promised an appropriately dark, sensual head trip. Men in embellished jackets and upholstery trousers, women in their languidly draped palazzo pants and layered silk tanks. One of my all-time favourite by Ackermann.
Kurt Cobain. Courtney Love. These two names were audible during the recent Saint Laurent collection by Hedi Slimane. Hedi is famous for making crap looking clothes super expensive, but this time he went too far – the wardrobe for his SS16 men and Resort 2016 women is having a lot in common with today’s teenagers which fancy skating, alcohol and wild parties. And, Kurt Cobain eternal messy style, which might be cool only if its natural. Ripped denim (which looked so tattered that I nearly thought they were taken from a “too cool for school” person); every 14 year old’s must have chokers; chunky, slouchy cardigans. The worst? The styling, or rather lack of any styling. This what Hedi does now at Saint Laurent is purely about giving people back their clothes from adolescence , but in extreme prices. Is it fashion? Is it style? I suppose not.
Rei Kawakubo and Julien d’Ys are a perfect creative couple. She is designing clothes full of intelligent innovation which is in perfect symbiosis with history of fashion. He is the “hair artist” who does mind-blowing head creations. Comme des Garcons for men’s SS16 is an explosive fusion of Louis XVI nostalgia and extravagant modernism. This season, d’Ys created towering neon yellow bouffants, a striking contrast to Kawakubo’s collection of revisited suits – which saw trousers slit down the legs, jackets with their collars removed or silhouette unexpectedly severed, and shirts that hung in tatters. For the hair d’Ys was given free hand by Kawakubo to take the direction he wanted. “I have to have freedom,” he says, speaking after the show. “If somebody said to me ‘OK, I want that’, then I can’t do anything, I can’t! I’m completely frozen because I have to be very free and I have to love the person that I work with.”
Jonathan Anderson definitely had a blast during his last trip to Asia. In a Hong Kong antique shop, he found an early 18th-century screen from Japan—koi jumping over waves—that he thought looked so modern, it influenced him and his next collection. Loewe SS16 came from attempts of gathering something old and something new – tradition, culture and innovation, technology. That’s why there was a fuse of leather, which is Loewe’s heritage, and manga prints which are usually thought of as futuristic. But also, a topic of fast cars was moved and that is clearly visible on the bags and trousers. Not everything is totally clear in here, but with this collection Anderson proves he is the designer of tomorrow – looking forward to the following day, but not forgetting about the past.
Riccardo Tisci‘s latest idea for Givenchy seems to be deeply rooted in his best-selling collections from the past. As most thought he ended his exhausting journey with digital prints and t-shirts, now we know he came back on the easy ride. And again, just like few seasons ago, it is all about religion and Jesus. Jesus everywhere, on men-skirts to sweatshirts. Definitely. these will sell like hot buns… but also, this collection had its another side – Riccardo strongly based his inspirations on America and different denims shades of denim, giving everybody a clue, that True Religion might have been on one of the mood-boards: slim-fit jeans with star print worn shirtless with a cross.
However, the menswear part was shamelessly dimmed by the sudden Haute Couture collection for women. When I firstly saw Maria Carla Boscono wearing a bandeau on her head and a long chain of crucifix around her neck, I instantly thought of JLo and her famous “Ain’t it Funny” era. Then the dresses… a kind of gypsy-esque boheme which got crashed by #GivenchyGang (the models in black suites were holding jailer’s key dangling to look like Italian criminals from movies). Men’s SS16 and women’s Haute Couture had its borders between spirituality and “boys-and-girls-doing-bad-things” very blurred. Definitily this is what Riccardo Tisci wanted to demonstrate this season.
Design & Culture by Ed 