BEAUTY: Clothing--Craig Green

Craig Green has been absent for several years, on purpose. Although he has not had a live show in a awhile, he has still been creating and showing collections via special presentations and lookbooks. So this season, Green returned to a catwalk show with a deeply personally collection at his own studio in Silvertown, an ex-industrial area far out in London’s docklands.

Green lost his father last year. "Since then, I’ve been thinking a lot about the relationships between sons and fathers and that kind of dual expectation you have. It’s kind of about that tension," he said. Now, Green's oeuvre for the last ten years has really been about exploring masculinity and the ways the current incarnation of masculinity limits and oppresses men (see previous posts here). But the way he translates his concepts, thoughts, and beliefs into shapes, colors, and textures is really an exercise in restraint. His early collections featured garments that had the sense of martial arts uniforms, but coming undone with yards and yards of tape strapping dangling and flapping from sleeves and hems. He began incorporating fantastical wearable sculptures that seemed like protective shields constructed of scrap wood, or box kite frames strapped to the models as though they were backpacks.

So for this Spring Summer '25 collection (which was not shown as part of the official London Fashion Week schedule) about fathers and sons, Green takes his usual minimalist approach but with some fascinating details. I quite like the stacking of men's traditional leather belts, the kind that "dads" wear, into a kind of reinforced corset. And the deconstruction, mixing, and blending of shooting patches, protective patches, and sports gear applied to the body of a motorcycle jacket is, as Green put it, based on "functions that are quite dark." All functions tinged with physical violence. But how to explain the shift into plaid bibs featuring simplified children's storybook versions of bulldozers, fire engines, and dump trucks? Followed by an unexpected range of sheer pieces that could be pajamas? The show closed with dress-like ponchos with long swinging fringe. This could all be the aforementioned tension between father and son. And perhaps Green is saying that masculinity would do well to remember a sense of innocence and child-like sweetness. I think the world would be quite thankful and relieved if that happened...

https://craig-green.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Craig Green

Craig Green (previously here) continues to be a most extraordinary designer. Since his splashy debut collection in 2014--a transcendentally spiritual collection which, it bears mentioning, was so beautiful and moving that it elicited gasps and tears from an audience of jaded fashion industry insiders--Green has always had a penchant for cords, ties, and ropes as well as cobbled-together sculptures from scrap wood and fabric that he straps to the fronts or backs of his models. But the near-ecclesiastical sparseness and Zen-simplicity of his garments belies the larger concepts beneath them. He regularly cites the ideas of deconstructing the masculinity of war and conflict, of the ideas of uniforms and workwear, of the juxtaposition of protection and safety (his sculptures often resemble armour or talismans and wards) with vulnerability, and of seeking a more spiritual, higher level of functioning in this world. His concepts and narratives can be quite oblique, which prompted fashion journalist Sarah Mower to remark, "Craig Green’s calling as a designer is dealing both with the physicality of bodies and the deep complexity of human minds." A tall order for "just clothing"...but this is why I love fashion at this level. It is conceptual and performance art.

And for his SS '20 collection at London Fashion Week Men's, the concepts--or rather I should say the connections between his concepts--were quite cerebral. He started with his usual workwear/utilitarian channel-tufted pieces, with the addition of square exterior pockets. Green says, "It began with thinking a lot about skin—that you wear leather to protect yourself when you’re on a motorbike." The idea of skin gave way to what Green says was a foray into "Zoroastrian anatomical drawings, and a weird Egyptian idea--this idea of being embalmed and buried with all your worldly goods." This manifested in pieces on which are stitched starbursts of muscle groups and lines indicating where those muscles run in the body (fourth set of images). Next we get gingham caftans that feature more diagrams and grids. And here is where Green took a leap.

From the Zoroastrian to the Egyptian, he then springboarded to Easter celebrations and resurrection iconography which led, somehow, to his most unique creations yet: suits based on the Mexican art of papel picado, or perforated paper. In Mexico, artisans use chisels to carve out intricate designs on thick stacks of thin crepe paper. These perforated paper designs are usually strung into long banners and used as decorations for celebrations like Day of the Dead and Easter. This is Green playing, experimenting, letting his imagination run. I don't expect these pieces will be available in stores (the way the leather and quilted workwear pieces will be), but when one is a true artist working at the top of one's game, sale-ability is hardly one's main concern.

After an interlude of much more accessible (and sale-able!) outerwear pieces adorned with more geometric diagrams (not shown here), Green returned to the idea of skin and the body with a series of outerwear and rainwear pieces on which is printed (it actually looks like photocopies) men's nude bodies on black backgrounds, again overlaid with simple lines indicating areas of muscles and directions of limbs. The effect is a bit humorous, and a bit trompe l'oeil, but also a bit sobering, reminding one of the visceral and thus finite nature of our bodies. We will all someday, like the Egyptians, be laid out before our journey to the afterlife.

https://craig-green.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Craig Green at Pitti Uomo

Pitti Uomo wrapped up yesterday in Florence, and while it has been primarily known as a trade show for the fashion industry, the organizers have been adding more and more events and runway shows.

And for this Pitti Uomo, the headline guest designer was Craig Green (previously here). Green has a penchant for cords, ties, and ropes as well as cobbled-together sculptures from scrap wood and fabric that he straps to the fronts or backs of his models. But the near-ecclesiastical sparseness and Zen-simplicity of his garments belies the larger concepts beneath them. He regularly cites the ideas of deconstructing the masculinity of war and conflict, of the juxtaposition of protection and safety (his sculptures often resemble armour or wards) with vulnerability, and of seeking a more spiritual, higher level of functioning in this world.

Made in collaboration with Nike (Green used the high-strength, lightweight material Nike uses for its Flyknit line), the collection was inspired in part by the unsung heroes of our everyday lives. "I’d been looking at cleaners, surgeons, and postmen. They’re the people who have your life in their hands. There was that forgotten savior idea. I liked the idea that people could become angels in their lives by working hard and doing good," said Green. This could explain the cutout silhouettes of people following some of the models. A few of the ensembles resemble not only the simplistic, perhaps monastic garments of the past but also surgical scrubs. But there seems to be a split happening about halfway through the collection with the front halves of ensembles made of the Flyknit material while the back of the garment shifts at the seam into a soft, shimmery, floating statement. The human silhouette flips forward with diagrams of what look like energy lines in the spirit body. These energetic lines dissolve and in their place is an expression of the radiance of pure force from a central point. Green eventually morphs the collection into a transcendent moment with full-length tabards (or blankets!) held together with rope and overprinted with deep, shifting patterns in which one can make out Renaissance angels. Green said, "I thought they looked like a portal, a doorway, an escape to a better place...Sometimes the worst nightmare is reality."

https://craig-green.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Craig Green SS'18

Craig Green has certainly had a meteoric ascent in the design world. His inspirations and ideas are fresh and embody such a purity of form. At London Fashion Week Men's, Green showed a SS '18 collection at London Fashion Week Men's that contained all of those elements.

Since his early days after graduating the Fashion Masters course at Central Saint Martins, and through his three-season term at MAN (the fashion incubator of London), Green has had a penchant for making structures, boards, or objects to be worn or carried in front of his models (previously here and here) and for this collection, Green opened the show with one of these enigmas. But as the collection progressed, these body-sculpture objects became clearer. A set of black, white, and brown neutrals with accompanying brown, white, and black body-sculptures gave way to color and large geometric patterns. With a stylized palm tree and waves among the colorful shapes on the fringed poncho/serapes, I couldn't help but flash on indigenous cultures in Mexico and South America. Indeed, it brought me back to my Carlos Castaneda days...some of Green's pieces looked like stylized, fashionable versions of what Don Juan might have worn for desert treks with Carlos. And those body sculptures? Why, of course they are versions of the Ojo de Dios, or God's Eye, a wood and woven yarn "ritual tool, magical object, and cultural symbol evoking the weaving motif and its spiritual associations for the Huichol and Tepehuan Indians of western Mexico."

https://craig-green.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Craig Green

Fashion month started yesterday with London Collections: Men...and here we go!

Since Craig Green burst onto the fashion scene several seasons ago now, he has quickly risen to be one of the top talents at London Collections: Men. His stripped down examinations of contrasting states of masculinity (aggression vs. nurturing, turning battle gear into ecclesiastical garments) manifest in some fascinating pieces, many of which feature his now-signature loosened and flowing straps and ties.

And this season, I feel that Green has gotten even more political. How could one not after the sh*t show that was 2016, not just locally, but globally with Brexit, the rise of the right on the continent, and the election of a monster in the US. But Green's oblique--or not so oblique--narrative for this Fall-Winter '17-'18 collection must reference the plight of the immigrant. The world was heartbroken at images of a young boy drowned trying to escape Syria, and this story is expressed in Green's moving sculptures. We have seafaring silhouettes with floppy Nor-easter hats and bulky quilted layers tied with tubes that Green himself says is to represent oxygen hoses, which quickly give way to Green's "armour"--with the afore-mentioned loosened straps--all made of Islamic carpets. The show closed with looks that surely signal someone carrying all that he owns in a duffel bag, bundled in a parka and probably a few other layers of clothing (most likely all that he owns), about to set sail for a better land...

I know there are those who are going to decry something as trivial as fashion speaking about something as monumental and important as immigrants, but isn't that the role of good art? No matter what it is, an artist is expressing himself through his medium, mirroring the world for good or bad. I don't think Green is attempting to "glamorize" the plight of the immigrant...as an artist he has demonstrated that he is too smart for that, with past seasons featuring some truly moving anti-war statements. He is not trying to capitalize on the tragedy of others. This is simply the vocabulary of the world around us making its way into the speech of an artist.

http://craig-green.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Craig Green

And away...
we...
GO.

Fashion season starts in England with London Collections: Men (or LCM as it is known), and newly minted break out star Craig Green showed a fascinating Spring Summer '17 collection which utilizes his familiar Asian-inspired silhouette of very loose-fitting, literally deconstructed martial arts/Buddhist monk/Samurai pieces (previously here and here). Notice how sections of each garment are held together with lacing which, for purposes of the show, were undone, letting lower leg pieces dangle. But this time Green's creations were by way of what must be Tibet and Nepal. When Green himself spoke in large brushstrokes about inspiration for the collection (some designers are forthcoming about inspiration, some are vague, and some are downright deliberately obtuse), he cited garments flapping around the body like flags. But his collections usually flap and drape. The real story here is in the patterns, especially after several seasons of solid color, whether subdued or bright. An earthy pinstripe is a nice foil for a generous selection of lovely, intricate, dusty, ethnic-feeling prints worthy of Dries van Noten! But the bands of color here on quilted outerwear and tightly drawn hoods feel equally as Tibetan (previously here)--the pointed scarves tied around waists also resemble variations of the Nepali flag. In my imagination, I can see prayer flags and smell sandalwood incense...

I love the deconstructed detail of the last look here: it is like some kind of protective gear to be strapped on over other garments, only this model doesn't have any. Very reminiscent of the anti-war protest Green staged at his debut collection for Spring Summer '15 in which the battle uniform was coming off.

http://craig-green.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Misc. London Collections: Men SS '16

Yes, dear readers of "Oh, By The Way," it's that time of the year again ("It's the most wonderful time of the year..."). Every June and January, we see the ready-to-wear and couture runway shows in London, Milan, and Paris. June features runway collections for the following Spring-Summer, and the fashion season is always kicked off by London Collections: Men, now firmly established as an important and influential Fashion Week.

And this year's London Collections: Men just wrapped yesterday with some very interesting and beautiful collections, some of which I have wrote about in posts below. But here are some little tidbits and miscellaneous items from some of the shows.

Craig Green made quite a name and reputation for himself when he was part of MAN, the fashion design incubator that takes fledgling designers under their wing for three seasons before launching them on their own. While with MAN, Green honed his deconstructed martial arts-Samurai outfits. For his own Spring Summer '16 collection, he showed his now-familiar silhouette with trailing ties but this time in appropriate spring and summer hues of orange, green, yellow...

I have been saying this for a few seasons now. The pendulum always swings, and after so many seasons of skinny trousers, we are seeing the gradual inflation of the trouser silhouette. Christopher Shannon showed a voluminous pant...

...while Topman showed a leg cut to swing and sway when walking.

I quite liked Hardy Amies sheer suits, a bold and daring choice for such a venerable British fashion house, with a reputation for Savile Row tailoring and a purveyor to HRH Queen Elizabeth II in the 1950s. However, let's keep in mind that Amies did design all the futuristic space-age costumes for Kubrick's film "2001: A Space Odyssey." These sheer suits are sensual yet traditional and perfect for spring-summer!

Todd Lynn had Christian Louboutin design some amazing boots for his very unisex, nearly all-white collection!

And finally, let's applaud Oliver Spencer not so much for a pleasant enough collection (that he swears is inspired by modern steel artist Richard Serra...?) but for his use of mature models! I always love to see ageism defeated in the fashion world! Mature is sexy!

http://craig-green.com/
http://www.christophershannon.co.uk/
http://www.topman.com
http://www.hardyamies.com/
http://toddlynn.com/
http://oliverspencer.co.uk/