style

Genius. Loewe SS21

| Design & Culture by Ed

“We have to start loving fashion again,” Anderson declared. “We don’t know what tomorrow’s going to bring. So let’s enjoy it!” The best antidote for a crisis is escaping it – to the fullest. So just like this, Loewe‘s Jonathan Anderson came up with one of the season’s best collections, which is all about boldness, creativity and craftsmanship. Also, it’s fashion being fashion. Simply speaking: extraordinary! Just one glance at the exuberant, freewheeling gestures of the women in action in the Loewe spring-summer 2021 look book sends that sensation surging back. From the clothes’ voluminous playfulness to the active involvement of 16 intergenerational women right through to the intricate handwork in the pieces, this was Anderson’s great big blowing up of all the creative limitations that threaten to drive fashion back to dullness in these dark times. “We were all in confinement when we were doing this. We had huge issues getting fabrics, so we used what we had. My brief was: Just make your fantasy of what you want! It was a massive team effort. Each look is to show craft and fashion.” There are mind-spinning, multidisciplinary, multi-platformed layers to unpack here. In a tangible sense, the Show-on-the-Wall was delivered as a kit of life-size posters, with a roll of art-printed wallpaper commissioned from Anthea Hamilton, a pair of scissors, wallpaper paste, and a brush. Hamilton is there as one of Anderson’s poster women, striking a semi-martial-arts pose in a puffy white dress ruched up with parachute tape. The video artist Hilary Lloyd, who collaborated with Anderson for a men’s Loewe show a few seasons ago, and the painter Jadé Fadojutimi both swirl in generously layered black taffeta trapeze dresses. Others portrayed wear pieces that evoke Spanish and Dutch Old masters – a theme Anderson has been interested in for a while – in crisp scalloped-edge broderie anglaise dresses with wires sewn into the collars and skirts. A huge padded and ruched under-pannier is seen through a black chiffon overskirt. Those garments speak volumes about women taking up space in the world. “Poetic armor,” Anderson called it, the idea of “escaping into clothes.” He also talked about “rethinking the models” of fashion – a comment you can take to mean both the expanded inclusivity in this season’s casting and the way he is remaking the Loewe business model to act as a “cultural brand.” Integral to that is the focus Anderson trains on the craft culture of the house and the seamless, socially conscious interconnections he makes with contemporary art and artists. “Through this entire year, the idea of craft and making has never been more crucial,” he says. “It engages with people. It shows responsibility and protection of things that people are forgetting are important in this industry. It employs people and ultimately is about the legacy that we pass from generation to generation.” Summing up, Jonathan Anderson is a genius.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

And We Kept On Dancing. Isabel Marant SS21

| Design & Culture by Ed

Some designers in Paris make it seem like it’s business as usual, saying their fashion is about “optimism” and “dreaming“. I honestly think that a good collection right now is the one, which attempts to reflect the circumstances we’re currently facing, even in a slightest bit. And although I admire Isabel Marant for restlessly pushing her signature Parisian style, I thought her spring-summer 2021 collection’s “event” timing wasn’t truly appropriate. It wasn’t long ago that Marant didn’t want to put on a show this week. Impacted by the alarming atmosphere, she thought she’d record a video and call it a season. “Then, I started to get used to the fact that this is going to be our new life,” she smiled. “I’m afraid this is going to last for a little bit. So, I thought it was a good opportunity to start showing in a different way.” Going from zero to Donna Summer, Marant held on to her traditional Thursday-evening slot and staged within the Palais Royal what can best be described as a club night for happier times. There, to the beat of a techno remix of “I Feel Love”, the dance collective (La)Horde went wild as Marant’s girls and boys advocated an upbeat evening-into-daywear wardrobe for an era when this amount of touching probably isn’t advisable off the runway. As she was the first to admit, our turbulent times hadn’t done much to cramp her style. “My silhouette is very recognizable. I cannot design another way. I don’t have to force myself because times are difficult.” That shape remained 1980s-centric, suspended somewhere between Saint-Germain and Manhattan, with extra sheen and shine. Why tease the dance floor at this point in time? “For me, fashion is about enjoying life,” she explained. “It has to be positive. It’s a release of energy to people, putting bad vibes behind.” Her decision to stage a fashion show came with similar intentions, emphasizing a desire to change the exclusivity of fashion shows. “We won’t have any seating. People can just come and find their place.” Although the show was outside, that wasn’t a very good idea in the middle of a pandemic, according to the ones who’ve attended. Nevertheless, the collection itself is pretty and fun.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Phlegethon. Rick Owens SS21

| Design & Culture by Ed

Rick Owens‘ spring-summer 2021 is fire. And not just because we’ve finally saw his killer shoulder and platform boots in bubble-gum pink. The story behind it, the untamed fierceness of it, the sexuality – it’s really, really good. “Let’s get biblical” – the designer was FaceTiming from the Venice Lido, on the street that separates the Lido Casino from his favorite beach. He was watching the rehearsal for his spring 2021 women’s show, whose name, Phlegethon, he ripped from Greek mythology. Phlegethon was one of the five rivers of the Underworld, less famous than the Styx, but just as deadly. In Dante’s Inferno, it was a river of blood that boiled souls. Even at the remove of the Lido – a two-hour drive from his Italian factory that he describes as completely quiet and provincial – Owens has a preternatural gift for tapping into the collective unconscious and amplifying it in the most propulsive and cinematic of ways. He sees the hellscape that is the current world situation – COVID-19, irreversible global warming, the U.S. presidential race, you name it – and responds with defiant bravado. In his press notes, he used the words “grim gaiety.” On the phone he referred to the way French women’s hats became more extreme during World War II as a subtle way of taunting their German occupiers. “We can think of clothes as frivolous or we can think of clothes as one of our first steps towards communicating with other people, which is a powerful thing,” Owens said. “Clothes don’t change the world, but they’re part of an attitude that influences the way people think. They’re signifiers, little messages people send to each other, like those hats.” The models’ masks might’ve been the most obvious signifiers. Now that they’re a necessary accessory, every runway without them is a missed opportunity – and to one’s surprise, many designer don’t include them at all. “A mask kind of works with my clothes,” Owens said, “but it’s also a vote. It’s also promoting consideration of others. You might not believe in a mask, but it sends the right message.” As it happens, the collection’s sexy fishnet dresses were upcycled from the masks models wore in his fall 2012 show. The Casino piazza setting was even more monumental than Owens’s usual Paris venue, the Palais de Tokyo. Owens called this a “bare-bones” production, put on by a “skeleton crew,” but there were smoke machines and strobe lights placed inside the doors of the shuttered casino. Models strode through the fog in thigh-high platform boots that the designer dubbed “waders” – Venice is sinking, after all, and don’t forget that river of blood! “In the face of adversity,” he concluded, “we have to pull ourselves up.”

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Distorted Glamour. Y/Project SS21

| Design & Culture by Ed

Y/Project gets a bit repetitive – which, in a way, makes Glenn Martens‘ mastership of exaggerated distortion so distict and consistent. And offering a product that utterly reflects your brand is every brand’s priority today. “I had to adapt to a new system, and a new way of working,” Martens told Vogue. “I was thinking, What’s the core of the clothing I make? At the end of the day, it’s to make people happy. The biggest thing you can do now is to bring emotion, because people want what they wear to stand for something.” You could say that that has been a constant ethos of his. Martens has always found joy in making fashion, and that attitude shines through in his work. It’s what makes his clothes – complex designs, often layered in their construction and laden with historical references – fundamentally so intriguing. That inventiveness of his comes laced with a generosity of spirit and a healthy dash of much needed humor. Spring-summer 2021 is no exception. Martens has consolidated much of what he has achieved this past seven years at Y/Project. To anyone who’s a fan of his playful denim, or his clever, interactive knits, there are the likes of bedazzled marbled gray or pristine white jeans, both with those saucy deep-V trompe l’oeil waistbands he loves, or sweaters that would be classic were it not for their askew collars which can be altered at their wearer’s will; this time around one of those might be paired with a new trouser shape he has developed which mimics a silk sarong. The latter might not exactly be for the faint of fashion heart, but they’re a gutsy (and cheeky) response to the moment we’re in, part of what he describes as the collection’s “less serious, less drama” new mood. There are pant suits that can be transformed by being unbuttoned or unlayered. Polo dresses which, via the miracle of their drawstrings, can go from Zoom office to going out – or whatever will constitute that in the months to come; maybe you’ll just vamp it up at home. Meanwhile, a faux-leather trench delivers a serious hit of glam, something echoed by the collection’s flamboyant mules or lace booties. Still, it’s an off-kilter kind of glam, one that’s hardly obvious or expected. Sex & The City wardrobe in 2020, eventually facing the end of the world.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Transcendent. Acne Studios SS21

| Design & Culture by Ed

Acne Studios returned to the usual fashion month week schedule, which might be making more sense than showing two months earlier during menswear-couture-resort frenzy – ironically, this period of time is even more hectic than regular Paris Fashion Week, especially in post-lock-down era. The spring-summer 2021 collection coming from Jonny Johansson is one of the best ones in a while. Less over-styling, more focus on the actual clothes. And there was plenty of optimism and vibrance (and occasional magic), too, which we all need now. “It feels like a transition to something more positive. I’m very optimistic about what’s happening. I feel positive. I spent more time with myself and my family, and just in the studio with people. It’s been a less stressful period, although the stress has come from somewhere else. I’ve been quite happy, actually, although I know that sounds weird.” Maybe that explained why Johansson’s show notes referenced “gatherings for a spiritual moonrise”, and the garments quite literally reflected it. Everywhere you looked, there was a shiny, metallic, or iridescent texture. Within the context, it felt a bit like New Age spirituality, an element you could associate with the surfer culture Johansson belongs to. “When the sun is going down, hordes of people are staying on the beach looking at the sundown. It’s like a tribe of people that go towards the light,” he said. The shine mingled with raw materials like crinkled paper, washed linens, and hemp on heels. Styled together, it had a certain density about it. A raggy dress in stained leather and tattered netting drove home the cultish association. A collaboration with the Los Angeles–based artist Ben Quinn, who interprets his personal experiences with the mystical via supernatural imagery, produced various pieces that made the whole affair feel that extra-bit pagan. Invited to experience a repeat of the show after its livestream, guests walked through a series of rooms in the Grand Palais, each reflecting a different time of day and the light that defines it. The looks were selected to match those different occasions. Models were lined up and walking around in circles, eerily staring up at a massive sunlamp as if they were participating in a séance. Who said fashion can’t be therapeutical and slightly transcendent?

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.