BEAUTY: Clothing--Edward Crutchley

Edward Crutchley, a graduate of Saint Martin's who launched his own label at Fashion East during 2015's London Collections: Men, showed a fascinating Spring Summer 2023 collection for London Fashion Week inspired by the ancient Greek sea god Proteus who was Poseidon's shepherd for sea creatures. It is where we get out word protean which describes anyone or anything that is as mutable and adaptable. Crutchley invokes Proteus to highlight the idea of fluid thinking and gender fluid behavior. The designer said, "Even though it’s about ancient Greek mythology, there are no references. We’re not seeing a toga coming down the runway. But it’s very much based around Proteus and how he cannot be caught, because his body is always in flux...and I think that’s a very pertinent thing to be talking about now, especially with the hideous take that our new prime minister (Liz Truss) has on people’s bodies and their right to own their own bodies. She has already said that a trans woman is not a woman."

As a gay designer, Crutchley has been pushing boundaries and buttons with his gender-defying collections for a few years now (previously here), so this collection continues that perspective with everyone--men and women--striding down the runway in gorgeous silver platforms. He referenced the fluidity of water with shimmery blue taffeta, sheath dresses with bubble cut-outs, water-y sequined sections, and a special digital print collaged together from rippling images of shavings of mother-of-pearl. A few men sported cupless bras; after all, men have no actual breasts to support, but men do have pectoral muscles and the idea is not so far-fetched as it reads more like a harness, the type worn in the gay leather community, but this one in sequins. "Beauty. I always think that’s the best way to protest. Make something beautiful that expresses your sentiment. That’s the way to win people around to show them what you believe, in the most beautiful way possible," said Crutchley.

Crutchley is an expert in fabric, having worked with Kim Jones at Dior, Louis Vuitton, and now Fendi (Jones was appointed Artistic Director of Fendi's women's collection after Karl Lagerfeld's death)...in fact, in addition to his eponymous label he also carries the title Director of Fabric for Dior Men. So it is no surprise that he uses sumptuous materials, expressed here with amazingly fine knits, purple and pink crushed velvet, Lurex, and bouclé. But the forward part of the collection certainly comes from the pieces on men that are traditionally seen as more "feminine." Of course, despite historically rigid gender lines, there really is no such thing as "men's" or "women's" clothing. If I own a sheath dress and wear it, then it is a piece of men's clothing because I am a man. It's mine. And I can't help but think that if those rigid gender lines did not exist, if the definition of what it is to be a man, of what it is to look like a man, if what is allowed to be associated with men could be more inclusive, there would be room for gender non-conforming people to express themselves. Imagine if the paradigm of what a man is ran from A to Z instead of A to C,...then someone could wear a piece of clothing that is perceived now as feminine but proudly claim to be a man because that expression would be included in being a man. Maybe the work of designers like Crutchley and others are advancing us toward a better, less restrictive future.

http://www.edwardcrutchley.com/