SS21

Uniform. A.P.C. SS21

| Design & Culture by Ed

Many brands release their spring-summer 2021 collections right now, a month after the fashion month frenzy. For many, it’s the season of uncertainty. While the clothes will be produced, will anyone buy them? Will there be a reason to shop again? Will 2021 be saved by the vaccine or doomed by the total lockdown? This is a pack of questions that disturb everyone, from small labels to big players. And of course, the present times are also full of anxiety. On a video call with Vogue, Jean Touitou predicted that 2020 will “end up not as catastrophic as we thought at first” for brand A.P.C. Naturally, he had a theory as to why. “Is it because we do clothes,” he asked, “instead of just images of clothes?” Not waiting for an answer, he commented, “Reflection counts for more than substance” in this industry. These days, Touitou is coming around to the idea of content, “as long as it’s ‘very personal’ and ‘matter-of-fact.’” He said he’s considering a podcast series in which he and his three kids play a song and talk about its maker; episode one may feature “Arnold Layne,” a Syd Barrett tune off This Is Pink Floyd and the band’s very first single. “Playing music with our kids, nobody can do that but me,” Touitou reasoned. It’s thanks to Jean and Judith’s daughter Haydée that Tim Elkaim shot this season’s look book. She hired him for her magazine, The Skirt Chronicles, before he got this gig. “A virtuous circle,” Touitou called the familial give-and-take. What about the clothes? There’s lots to love, pretty much as usual with A.P.C. The oversized jeans with off-center button flies that first made an appearance last season returned here, and the same treatment was applied to a raw denim mini. All of the button-downs were buttoned up to the top and finished with a thick gold chain worn high under the collar. In one case, a chambray shirt was accessorized by three chains. Cool classics that have that Parisian soul – this just can’t go wrong.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Summer. Missoni SS21

| Design & Culture by Ed

Missoni‘s spring-summer 2021 look-book warms me mentally on this cold, rainy November day. “Summer, come back”, it seems to say. While other designers switch to loungewear with lockdown on their minds, for Angela Missoni it comes much more natural. “For us, comfort has always been at the foundation of our style,” she told Vogue via Zoom. “Knitwear is indeed the most malleable, versatile medium to convey a feel of ease. So there’s nothing new for us – we haven’t changed our perspective.” Discussing her new collection, she elaborated, “Since my parents established our house in the ’50s, our collections have never been elaborate or over-designed. Nevertheless, this season I went for even more simplicity and clarity. It came as a spontaneous feel. We are designers and not sociologists; our creativity is what drives us. Although these times call for a heightened sense of responsibility and more engagement on social issues, women – myself included – still desire to be feminine and to express a certain sensuality, even when confined at home.” The lineup pivoted around an elongated and slightly ’90s silhouette, popularised by Jacquemus in the last few collections – think tube tops or midriff-baring mini cardigans; slender body-hugging midi-skirts with sexy thigh-high slits; and straight-cut thin-strapped slip dresses baring the back. Missoni’s typical 3D textures were smoothed and simplified, with plays of horizontal intarsias contrasting the verticality of the lines, a touch of Lurex and fishnet-knitted sequins adding luminosity and sparkle. Missoni paired every outfit with T-strap stilettos, casually wrapped around the ankle with printed foulards. “I’ve found myself looking at high heels in my wardrobe with a feel of longing,” she said. “I can’t wait to wear them again when all this will hopefully be over.”

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

The Triumph of Lazy Design (And Tone-Deaf Confidence). Celine SS21

| Design & Culture by Ed

While Raf Simons understands the youth and reflects its dreams and fantasies in the best way, Hedi Slimane‘s – another designer who’s obsessed with all things young – execution of this theme at Celine feels shallow and tone-deaf. Somehow, at Saint Laurent it worked well, but here, with every season, it just gets worse. Spring-summer 2021 collection, filmed in the Stade Louis II, a sport venue in Monaco, is an example of remarkably lazy design with over-exaggerated confidence. “With this collection Hedi wants to show, through the youth and optimism, the hope in this uncertain time”, said the brand’s press note. Sorry, but I found no optimism in a bunch of crop-tops with logo bands and un-inspiring denim pants (at worst, grey sweat-pants). This was an ode to the ‘basic girl’, and definitely not about the actual youth of today that’s vocal about voting, takes part in Black Lives Matter and women’s rights protests across the world or is socially engaged. The vague-ness of this line-up escalates with each look. She’s “always the Parisian, but with a new energy – she listens to rap/hip-hop music”. Oh, wow, sounds like an Emily in Paris. Princess Nokia’s “I Like Him” looped hypnotically as the models strode the circuit, which is the only thing I liked about this collection. But their Celine-logo baseball caps (I can’t stand that merchanside-driven part the most) and ‘so whatever’ styling was utterly depressing. The problem is that Slimane doesn’t evolve aesthetically, and his ‘youthfulness’ feels exhausted and irrelevant. It’s no longer an attitude, but a mad-priced costume.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Teenage Dreams. Raf Simons SS21

| Design & Culture by Ed

This season, we’ve had more of Raf Simons than usual – first in his new role at Prada back in September, and now in his name-sake label’s co-ed spring-summer 2021 collection. There are few working designers so vocally obsessed with youth culture as Simons. But the youth Simons seeks to explore isn’t exactly the youth of today – the young people advocating for climate justice, leading protests against police brutality and racism, and volunteering as poll workers. It’s his own youth that interests him. The metadata of his website, where he streamed his spring 2021 film “Teenage Dreams,” reads: “I don’t want to show clothes, I want to show my attitude, my past, present, and future. I use memories and future visions and try to place them in today’s world.” Designers are plumbing their own histories more than ever in this digital and isolated season, but this has always been Simons’s way. The press release for his teen dream collection lists the films that inspired him, many of which he has cited before, from Alien and Alice in Wonderland to Picnic at Hanging Rock and A Nightmare on Elm Street. That’s the totality of Simons’s statements on this collection, which features his first official foray into womenswear at this brand and his first fashion film since his start in the late ’90s, when similarly rakish models loafed about in Belgian photo studios and homes. Back then they smoked ciggys and drank champers and smushed into a single couch. In today’s film they populate in a nuclear floral set by Mark Colle: possessed, crawling on the floor, snatched into a web. As Simons’s youth in revolt slunk around in the film, punctuated by pulsing beats by Senjan Jansen, his signatures came into focus. The silhouette was as slim as ever and there was ample sloganeering and graphics, things his customers old and young adore, as well as photo prints of family members of Raf’s studio team. Raf stans will appreciate the continuity of his long lean silk skirts, colorful turtlenecks with R monograms at the throat, sleeveless tunics, and body-wrapping perspex tops. A big mustard knit, the sort of sweater Simons himself often wears, will be another fan favorite. It’s worn by both a male and female model, proving the point that while this is technically a womenswear debut, female shoppers have long found comfort in Simons’s work.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

God Is A Woman. Mugler SS21 (1)

| Design & Culture by Ed

God is a woman, and she’s wearing Mugler. Casey Cadwallader‘s vision for the brand is empowering, inclusive and boldly feminine. That’s again demonstrated in his spring-summer 2021 collection, which wasn’t presented during Paris Fashion Week, but as an off-the-schedule sci-fi video starring Bella Hadid and friends of the label. Cadwallader pointed out the increasing importance of music videos in the absence of live performances. He’s working on clothes for those apparently, too – just think Miley Cyrus, Cardi B and Caroline Polachek! In fact, about half of his time is spent on VIP requests. The other 50% he expends on the label’s ready-to-wear, but he’s not exactly playing it safe with this category either. “I felt it was time to deal with the fantasy side of Mugler,” he said, referring to the house founder’s infamous collections of the 1990s. There’s the hyper-sexy clothes, and then there’s the way he’s going about making them. Cadwallader is putting a lot of effort into sourcing more sustainable materials. He says those bodystockings will be constructed with 100% recycled lycra by autumn 2021. And he’s also working at lowering the prices of pieces like the twisting-seam jeans he designed for his first Mugler collection two years ago and the Lycra and illusion tulle leggings and tops that he likens to “complex puzzles” of couture pattern-making. “There’s energy in young people that want to buy Mugler,” he said. That jibes with the trend toward body-conscious – and body-positive! – collections we saw this season at brands like Fendi and Eckhaus Latta. Also, what’s new – Mugler is moving to a see-now-buy-now model starting in February. This capsule collection is a “prelude” of that outing. Many brands failed with this business-mode, but who knows, a brand like Mugler might really pull it off.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.