BEAUTY: Clothing--Y/Project

I've loved the voluminous, slouchy, puffy silhouette and cut of collections from Y/Project (Glenn Martens) for a while now and while it can be argued that he has always been a Mannerist, he has ramped up the twisting and folding and excess fabric for this SS '20 collection at Paris Fashion Week. Journalist Luke Leitch wittily remarked, "There is an echo in the work of Glenn Martens’s Y/Project of Vivienne Westwood’s 'Drunken Tailoring.' However the distortions achieved by Martens are much more extreme, much more mind-twisting, much more perception-altered: Call it 'Acid Tailoring,' maybe."

His interest in obscuring and deconstructing the body is an exercise in adventure. New shapes and scales surprise the eyes and mind. Lapels are bigger on one side than the other, jackets button asymmetrically, sweaters are ruched up the body, sleeves are longer than needed and sewn on the garment far forward, fanny packs are nearly unrecognizable as they circle the entire torso like an inner tube, plackets wind and twist up the body, shirts bag and bunch in unexpected places, and one side of a trouser waist has so much excess fabric that it flops over the belt exposing its lining. It's all dizzying and sideways and humorous and puzzling...and fascinating.

https://www.yproject.fr/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Y/Project

Glenn Martens--and his Y/Project brand--was the guest designer this year at Pitti Uomo and the folks who run the event gave Martens carte blanche to do whatever he wished in whatever venue he chose. And he chose to show his FW '19-'20 collection in the cloisters of the Santa Maria Novella basilica, at night, in the dark, with only the lights of flashlights provided to the audience to light the models. It's an interesting device...presumably it makes the audience more invested and particpatory. It also feels somehow...holy...to see a show in the cloisters of such an iconic church, under the stars, by the equivalent of candlelight.

I like Martens' sense of volume and his penchant for a sort of crumpled, crunched silhouette. Jackets, sweaters, coats, and suits are cut boxy and roomy. Details like carpet scarves and layers of argyle and sheer material in the fourth image are intriguing. But I honestly LOVE the extremely high boots (waders?) that are cut at the femoral artery...you can see them in leather and suede in the third and fifth images. Marvelous.

https://www.yproject.fr/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Misc. Paris Fashion Week, FW '16-'17

Misc. Men's Paris Fashion Week.

Raf Simons. Long sleeves. Large scale. More cocooning, more pulling into one's shell like Damir Doma and more childhood like Fendi. Simons' collection directly referenced youth in varsity sweaters with anonymous school letters and insignias.

Y Project. Odd detail at the hem of jeans...an extra bell or cuff, buttoned...

And it seems that the break out star of the season was plush toy fur, seen not only at Fendi, but also at Ann Demeulemeester (who, it must be noted, also included long hair along with plush toy fur!)...

...and plush toy fur also at Loewe. Like kids dressing up as Fred Flintstone...

http://www.rafsimons.com/
www.yproject.fr
https://www.anndemeulemeester.be/
http://www.loewe.com/