Men’s – Poetic Outerwear. Hed Mayner AW22

January 20, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

Hed Mayner’s autumn-winter 2022 collection exists in the space “between despair and ultimate hope“. The Israeli designer explained further: “But I am thinking about the space between you and the garment, layered and protected…you are in a bubble.” Mayner speaks like a poet and he designs like one too, operating instinctively and emotionally, more interested with how a garment will feel on the skin, move about the body, and imprint on a life than how cool it looks or how hype-y it is. It’s this humanity that has garnered Mayner fans across the world, some in fashion and some far outside it, who plug in to the gentle ideas he pushes each season. For the new season, the sloped shoulder is the big story. “It’s not just about a refined jacket,” he said, “it’s about injecting an energy, a vibe.” The vibe here is one of movement – clothes are moving, dripping down off shoulders, pooling around the ankles, or cinching up at the waist, tucking in under heels and into flat buckled shoes. Quilted faux-leather scarves and squares of Liberty fabric are hung around necks or clipped onto lapels and belt loops. In a season of statement outerwear and bold coats, Mayner’s offering will leave a big mark; double-breasted wool styles and clever Macintoshes promise artful protection against the elements. A first foray into prints, done with Liberty fabrics, is a counter to the almost-businessman spirit of his wide blazers. In sensitive pastels, the quilted pants and filmy button-downs look like something “maybe from your grandmother, or something American, even though it’s a British company.” Mayner’s clothing evades provenance like this: based between Tel Aviv and Paris, thinking in a way that’s not really of a place. But it’s certainly of our time. His clothing offers a gentle reprieve from stress and worry. Wouldn’t it be nice, lovely, refreshing to settle into to a Mayner puff of jacket?

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Neo Future. Comme Des Garçons AW20

March 10, 2020 | Design & Culture by Ed

“Is it impossible to make something completely and utterly new, since we are all living in this world?”, Rei Kawakubo asked rhetorically in the press notes of her autumn-winter 2020 Comme Des Garçons collection. Looking at some “big” designers for a couple of seasons, this question is an actual punch with a fist. At this stage in her legendary career, what’s still driving Kawakubo is the tantalizing goal of being able to make work that relates to nothing else; that triggers no associations; is devoid of storytelling and free of history, politics, or satire; and is incapable of being interpreted as belonging to any culture or subconscious brew of any of the above. Among the 20 looks she sent out – bubbles, ledged pieces apparently made for furniture, towering headpieces – it felt like she was aiming to design for some post-world state. There appeared to be echoes of Comme Des Garçons collections from the past – the Flat collection; the ones rotated around the idea of weddings and funerals; fragmented reminders of the Lumps and Bumps presentation. Kawakubo admitted it was true – she really let herself remix some of her past works. “Continuing my work as a perpetual futurist, I worked from within the CDG world.” But when you’re having such a well-formed, complex and distinct vocabulary – Miuccia Prada as well comes up to my mind as one of those designers – then there’s no wonder you want to recycle some of those concepts from time to time.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Classic Chic. Christophe Lemaire SS15

September 24, 2014 | Design & Culture by Ed

Christophe Lemaire shows you each season, that to be his woman, you shouldn’t buy new clothes every three months. His woman is about one piece of his clothing; a trench coat, a white cotton shirt or a cashmere sweater. And you simply mix it with your personal style! Lemaire simply does the transparent fashion- it isn’t provoking, but makes the crowd look at you and say “she is chic”. In his SS15, the Parisian favourite brought lots of white and cobalt- we had blue pencil skirts, and interesting white shirts. The culottes tied with a loosely worn belt looked stunning with grey mules, while the tunics had it’s perfect place under the classical mackintosh. Possibly not much. But the golden rule is says, less is more.

The Logo. Anthony Vaccarello SS15

September 23, 2014 | Design & Culture by Ed

First Paris Fashion Week show, and first impression. Anthony Vaccarello does logo. Even the wonder-boy of sex-appeal got touched by logo mania (read: commercialism). “Letters as a sharp graphism on the body. A wild, urban way to dress. I will be featuring prints for the first time in my collection.” Oh, I see. That’s why we’ve got the sweatshirts with A N T H O N Y V A C C A R R E L L O sign opened the show. Then we had also some very Versace-esque slim gowns (possibly an influence from Anthony’s SS15 Versus Versace debut in New York, earlier this month) with huge, gross A’s and V’s. But I still loved the leather pieces. And the skirts giving some leg to the models (like Mica Arganaraz or Binx Walton). This part felt much more Vaccarello-ish than the seriously Vaccarello-ed stuff.

Blanc au Blanc. Gareth Pugh AW14

February 27, 2014February 27, 2014 | Design & Culture by Ed

Gareth Pugh is the designer that always shocks with his ethereal fashion. This time, he presented one of the best- totally made out from plastic, paper or fur- in one colour… White. Like a mind cleanse, the models wore white sculptural dresses, fur coats, piece of plastic for covering their boobs and Pharrell looking like hats… There was also the wind-it-up look, where the model had a huge key stuck to her back! It’s all a bit fairy-tale, a bit sci-fi (just see that silver polished look that is so dramatic!) and bit chaotic… Bug that’s why Pugh makes the most spectacular (not so about venue) collections coming from Paris.