Art Dealer Fashion. Olympia Le-Tan AW16

March 11, 2016March 11, 2016 | Design & Culture by Ed

In Paris’ hottest contemporary art gallery, Galerie Perrotin, Olympia Le-Tan staged her arty and extremely French presentation for autumn-winter 2016 season. The location was the right fit for her Parisian-chic embodying clothes and bags, with her dad’s Murakami, Erró, and Sophie Calle illustrated intepretations. The pastel-pink, vichy prints worked well with the olive-green coats, while the adorable, sequinned mini dress with Damien Hirst-like polka-dots is my personal favourite – I mean, it’s a go-to choice for an art exhibition! Looking at Olympia’s models, who have helped her to envision an art auction scenario (with Sabine Getty as a posh art buyer, Le-Tan’s sister, Cleo, as a secretarial assistant and Lily Summer as an eccentric girl), the whole event / fashion show felt absolutely entertaining, and humorous. And the Christian Louboutin lace-up stilettoes, splashed with paint the other day by Katie Hillier, were pure FUN.

Not Just a Punk. Acne Studios AW16

March 9, 2016 | Design & Culture by Ed

You always feel an energetic attitude at Acne Studios collections, naturally caused by the bold colour palette, psychedelic prints and the 80s spirit which surrounds the clothes. The creative director of the brand, Jonny Johansson, has been inspired by a Californian punk band, The Cramps, and their rebellious, acid-dyed looks. But the autumn-winter 2016 outing wasn’t a wannabe “grunge” collection. Johansson reinterpreted his obsession, playing with silhouettes (orange, duvet jackets worn as kimono dresses, for example) and textures. From a transparent PVC top, which hid a striped mini-dress, to über-cool yellow leopard patterns on the knits and undies, the designer proves that a punk soul has many forms of its appearance – but it always keeps on looking defiant, and going against the flow!

Brave Velvets. Haider Ackermann AW16

March 8, 2016 | Design & Culture by Ed

“It’s a tough world outside and I want to have this gracefulness, this brightness, happiness,” Haider Ackermann said afterwards his autumn-winter 2016 show. “To show the other side of what we are confronted with every day.” Ackermann’s brave season is infinitely Haider, as the silhouettes, which continue to evolve from the last spring’s outing, are all about the jaw-dropping varsity jackets, super skinny pants and feminine dresses – and one of them, specifically, was cut up to the hip, looking fierce in velvet red. By coincidence, the Belgian designer moved the topic of the season’s hottest trend, so velvet (seen recently at Rochas and Vetements). It’s virually everywhere in this collection, ranging from dusty pink to emerald green. And it’s even in the hair of the models, tied up in for of colourful, quite abstract dreadlocks. Love it.

Eerie Youth. Vetements AW16

March 6, 2016March 6, 2016 | Design & Culture by Ed

With a sexually exaggerated pre-school uniform from the Soviet times opening the show, Demna Gvasalia and the design collective behind Vetements presented more than one sin in the gothic-style Cathedral of America. After a sleazy sex-club and a cheesy Chinese restaurant, a church seemed to be the next pretty unclear choice for a show venue – however, the clothes purely defined Vetements and it’s already well know, anti-fashion approach. Calling it a street wear brand is a colossal mistake, when you see the prices of these very well-manufactured coats and dresses, but in fact, Vetements is based on the sweat-shirts, which are transformed into new volumes every season. Moving away from the over-sized one, which stormed all the retail points last season, this time the hoodies had a zombie-look – the shoulders were lost somewhere in translation, and the solemn faces of the street-cast models perfectly matched the atmosphere of the collection. The slogans, like Sexual Fantasies, just made it all even more strange and… gripping.

The distinctly American, motocross rose embroideries on knee-high boots and over-sized shirts confronted with chic, gold velvet suits. But there were also the red puffas, the next winter bite for the label’s fans. Vetements, and its leading designer, Demna Gvasalia (who has just debuted at Balenciaga, review soon!), are on the tip of everyone’s lips in the industry, and not only because their collections are filled with youthful, uncertain energy – people simply want these clothes, and want this styling. And they want to Instagram that obsession, too. Even though the latter wasn’t the initial aim of the collective…

Draped Zone. Rick Owens AW16

March 6, 2016 | Design & Culture by Ed

Continuing the Mastodon theme from his menswear collection, Rick Owens investigates his “uneasiness about environmental change” in the most elusive, and captivating way in his women’s show. And his response to climate problems, as he explained, is heading straight to his studio and drape. Drape, drape and drape – this word describes the clothes, which look eerie in their Dali-esque volumes, but surprisingly so soft that you want to touch them and wear them. Starting from the simpler white coats and dresses, the collection evolved in to something much more heavy – the duvet coats in chestnut-brown melted on the models’ bodies, while the velvet cape with a menthol green lining had this specific warmth which will appeal to many when the snows come. But the entire mystery behind the show was kept obscured under the surreal, fleecy cocoons, which to me, reminded bee-hives. By coincidence, Owens told the press during his menswear outing that his life-parter, Michele Lamy, kept a bee-hive at the rooftop of their home/office/boutique Palais Bourbon last summer, to help them survive the hottest summer of 2015.