BEAUTY: Clothing--Rick Owens

Rick Owens presented his first live show in Paris with an audience since COVID! This Spring-Summer 2022 women's collection entitled Fogachine (to partner with the men's version of the same name, seen here) is drape-y, glamorous, and sexy. Indeed, fashion journalist Sarah Mower at Vogue said, "Carpe diem, then, and on with a spectacle that pushed everything in the Owens arsenal of accomplishments to its creative best. Who else can signal the siren glamor of old Hollywood draping, sculpt wildly freeform shapes from haute couture materials and fuse it all together into such a modern armory of erotic power? If we’re talking about sex and body-exposure this season—and everyone is—then Rick Owens is the past-master of all that. The empowering art of his cutaways to skin never looked more faultlessly engineered, wired into bra-tops with no central fixing, structured into stretch bodysuits glimpsed through sheer layers and multi-strapped into thigh-high gladiatorial robo-boots."

The Master's own show notes say:
SS22 FOGACHINE WOMEN’STHURSDAY 30 SEPTEMBER 2021, 12H00PALAIS DE TOKYO, 13 AVENUE DU PRÉSIDENT WILSON, 75116 PARIS
AFTER FOUR COVID ERA SHOWS LIVESTREAMED FROM MY HOME ON VENEZIA’S LIDO BEACH, RETURNING BOMBASTICALLY AT FULL BLAST TO THE PALAIS DE TOKYO PARVIS SEEMED TO IGNORE THE HUMBLING EXPERIENCE WE ALL WENT THROUGH TOGETHER; AND ARE STILL EXPERIENCING. THOSE COVID SHOWS WERE ABOUT DEFIANT FEROCITY IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY BUT SHOULD RETURNING TO THE PARIS RUNWAYS BE ABOUT HUMILITY AND A LESSON LEARNED? OR CARPE DIEM?

THERE IS A BRISK LOGIC TO THE PURSUIT OF BEAUTY ABOVE ALL ELSE THAT HAS ALWAYS APPEALED TO ME AND THE ENDLESS HONING AND REFINING OF CREATIVE SIGNATURES IN THOSE THAT I HAVE ALWAYS ADMIRED. FOCUSING ON THAT SEEMED LIKE THE RIGHT MOVE.

SCULPTED BODYSUITS IN BLACK MATTE LACQUERED STRETCH DENIM ARE PEELED DOWN TO FORM ABSTRACT SKIRTS AND WORN OVER PLATFORM THIGH HIGH WADERS NOW SLICED INTO SPINDLY SPARTAN BOOTS... WORN WITH EASY T-SHIRTS SPLICED WITH THE THINNEST NYLON THAT FLOATS IN THE AIR LIKE THE FOG THIS COLLECTION WAS NAMED AFTER.
TAILORING HAS CRISP, SHARP SHOULDERS IN MICROJACKETS, OR COATS WITH THE SIDES CARVED OUT IN AN HOURGLASS SHAPE — CUT IN COTTON ORGANDY AND SILK MOUSSELINE TO EXPOSE THE COMPLEXITY OF THE STRUCTURAL INTERLININGS BENEATH.

GEOMETRIC CUTOUTS BLUNTLY EXPOSE FLESH AT TIMES WHILE ROBES AND CLOAKS CUT IN FLOWING COQ FEATHER ENCRUSTED TULLE OR RIGID COTTON FAILLE SOLEMNLY CONCEAL.
LEATHER AND NYLON BOMBERS OUTLINE THE FEMALE EQUIVALENT OF LE CORBUSIER’S MODULAR MAN AND ARE WORN OVER FLARED JEAN SKIRTS IN 16OZ BLACK, NATURAL, OR ORANGE SELVEDGE DENIM CUSTOM WOVEN FOR US BY YAMAASHI ORIMONO (EST. 1945) ON VINTAGE SAKAMOTO SHUTTLE LOOMS. THIS IS FROM AN ONGOING DRKSHDW CAPSULE MADE IN KURASHIKI, OKAYAMA PREFECTURE, JAPAN.
GIRDERED BUBBLE JKTS WITH HARD, STRONG SHOULDERS AND RUCHED CHIFFON BODIES PROVIDE ARCHITECTURAL CONFECTION IN SOLID BRIGHTS OR SOFT BLEEDING DÉGRADÉS.
MULTICOLORED MOHAIR SPIDERWEB KNITS COVER THE BODY IN DRIPPING LAYERS OF REMOVABLE ARMS AND HOODS.

BRUTALIST CHOKERS ARE FROM AN ONGOING JEWELRY COLLECTION PRODUCED BY GOOSSENS, THE MAISON THAT ONCE PRODUCED JEWELRY FOR COCO CHANEL, CRISTÓBAL BALENCIAGA, AND MADAME GRÈS IN THE 1950S.
PERSONAL NON-TOXIC FOG MACHINES COME IN 3 SIZES — SMALL TO INSERT INTO THE ZIPPED POCKETS OF PYTHON GLOVES, A CARRY ON SIZE, AND A COFFEE TABLE SIZE.
WE CONTINUE INCLUDING JKTS AND BAGS IN PIRARUCU DRAGON SCALE LEATHER, A FOOD BYPRODUCT PRODUCED BY INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES IN BRAZIL.

DENIMS NOT COMING FROM OUR JAPAN CAPSULE ARE GOTS CERTIFIED ORGANIC COTTON FROM A LOCAL ITALIAN MILL FOUNDED IN 1597.

MODELS WALK THROUGH FALLING JASMINE LEAVES GATHERED FROM THE PLANTS ON MY LIDO TERRACE IN MEMORY OF OUR COVID SHOWS THERE.

THE SOUNDTRACK IS A CUSTOM REMIX BY MOCHIPET — A DISTORTED SOUNDSCAPE OF HARDNESS THAT REFLECTS THE CURT DETERMINED HEDONISM OF THE MOMENT, AND MY WARINESS OF IT.

https://www.rickowens.eu/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Eremenegildo Zegna

Moving on from last season's thought-provoking collection called "The (Re)Set" (seen here) which obliquely addressed how the pandemic has shifted ways of being and dressing, Ermenegildo Zegna creative director Alessandro Sartori presents a SS '22 collection for Milano Moda Uomo called "The (New) Set" that continues the theme. A vision of how we will be dressing in a future that includes the collapse of traditional business models as well as the climate, Sartori worked with half kimono jackets with internal belts, deep pocketed workwear jackets, fitted blousons, and long duster jackets in a great variety of materials and were constructed using sartorial techniques (canvassing at the pockets, raglan sleeves). Sartori said of this collection, "The use of materials is becoming much deeper, and continuing the recycled process is bringing us to fibers we did not anticipate before, like hemp and silk. The focus is to work with this modular approach, to think each season not of what you don’t have but what you do have, and then how you might expand it without throwing anything away but in order to increase your choices and options. At the base of it all, I think, is that comfort has become key." I completely agree: these all look to be meticulously crafted garments of razor-sharp tailoring but feel so soft and easy to wear.

I love the accompanying film because it allows the freedom to escape the runway and show clothing in other settings, and drone work adds to the creativity of this presentation: many designers have risen to the challenge of the pandemic and created some wonderful filmic content to show collections and ideas...and I hope they continue to do so in the After times. Referencing the journey of the film, Sartori says, "It starts in a place where we have all been at some point, all of us, in our mind. Not literally, physically, because we all made our own subjective construction of this place and feeling. And then little by little it is replaced as we discover, and we become freer, until we become free—and then it ends with a beautiful dinner." And even though some of the models are female, they are still modeling menswear pieces scaled down for fit.

https://www.zegna.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--JordanLuca

The digital version of London Fashion Week 2021 just wrapped and it was a short affair this year--only three days. And as I noted last season, it seems like there are few designers left to participate in LFW. The big names have all left to show in Milan or Paris. But there are still a few interesting designers and brands left to explore.

This SS '22 collection for Digital London Fashion Week by brand JordanLuca (headed by Jordan Bowen and Luca Marchetto) has some really interesting cuts, details, and embellishments worth a closer look. I like that this sort of exhausted, white-flag-surrendered punk look is presented in an automobile junk yard. And I really love the trains on jackets, as well as the mini- and maxi-kilts!

JordanLuca SS22, in all its glory, continues to hone in on the precious nature of the present. On the rare occasion an eclipse is visible from the earth, it’s transient, ephemeral, and commands attention. Why do we so often forget to take the same pleasure in our own fleeting moments?

This collection is a reflection of the multitudes we each hold within ourselves: anger, grief for all we have lost, yet also longing, joy and elation for the ways in which we have made it here, all colluding in a triumphant celebration of life and vitality.

There’s strength in vulnerability, and catharsis in the resolution of trauma. SS22 speaks to the power and thrill inherent to renewal – it turns the self-destructiveness of addiction on its head, by reimagining masculinity in the most visceral, jubilant and effervescent way possible.

A considered colour palette of whites, jade green, saffron and flashes of pillar box red create a delicate, somber mood, and 1950s Cuban silhouettes stand in stark contrast to underlying themes of British movements: skinheads, postage stamps, bunting, memorabilia, and crucially, pride.

Union jacks are stitched in mono-colour onto cream jersey shorts, frayed and with raw edges, while machine stitched tulle roses adorn vests and biker jackets, quietly commemorating London’s subcultural heritage without ever feeling nostalgic or sentimental.

This is a personal jubilee, a punk-inflected white flag of surrender, interspersed with crisp silk suits and long bridal trains, fine nanny corset knits, rich organza and summer weight knitwear. There are dainty kilts offset by chunky snakeskin patterned boots, white platforms and studded clogs, while figure-hugging mesh tops are cinched in at the waist by buckled leather belts.

Things as we know them will probably never be the same. SS22 channels this feeling through each garment, each one representing a rebirth, a reckoning, and a revelling in the here and now.

https://www.jordanluca.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Qasimi

After fashion brand Qasimi founder Khalid Al Qasimi's death in 2019, the house was taken over by his twin sister Hoor Al Qasimi and she has carried on the DNA quite nicely. This Spring Summer 2022 collection shown at Digital London Fashion Week presents breezy garments with vent slashing and drapes to shield from the sun on our increasingly changing and hotter planet.

 

https://www.qasimi.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Bethany Williams

After winning the prestigious BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund last year, Bethany Williams (previously here) is doing even more of what she has always done: not only make responsibly sourced clothing, but contribute to the greater good of humanity. This Spring Summer 2022 collection shown during Digital London Fashion Week called "All Our Stories" continues Williams’ work with The Magpie Project. Inspired directly by the artist Melissa Kitty Jarram’s storytelling workshops with the Magpie families--women and children receiving help from the East London grassroots organization are homeless or at risk of homelessness--Williams wove intergenerational narratives and their values into the clothing, and used book cover waste from book publishers Hachette reworked into joy-giving prints through a textile collaboration with San Patrignano, an education and rehabilitation program in Italy. And as with her previous collections, Williams used Making for Change, a clothing manufacturing hub started in a women’s prison. The project aimed to increase well-being and reduce reoffending rates by equipping participants with professional skills and qualifications within a supportive environment. Through a new collaboration with Mending For Good and a social manufacturing scheme called Manusa, Williams has also pieced together old industry waste swatch samples and turned them into knitwear. Six of the "All Our Stories" looks – which also use merino wool deadstock from Lanificio Ermenegildo Zegna – formed Williams’ submission for the 2021 International Woolmark Prize.

“From now on, social enterprise is integrated in every part of our production process,” says the designer of why this season is a turning point for her brand. “I want to show people that you can do things differently and you can make it work.” Her plans to “provide a nurturing environment for people to train in fashion and encourage employment in the UK” are already well in motion.

And to top it all off, twenty per cent of the profits from Bethany Williams' "All Our Stories" will be donated to The Magpie Project via The Bethany Williams Benevolent Fund. To donate visit https://www.justgiving.com/magpieproject. That is a beautiful thing.

https://www.bethany-williams.com/

It's That Time Again...June 2021

Regular readers know that twice a year, I blog about all the fascinating, beautiful, mesmerizing, strange, puzzling, outrageous, outstanding, unusual, artistic, inspiring sartorial creations coming out of the exquisite imaginations of designers, and down the runway. Regular readers may have also gleaned that I follow fashion the way some people delve into the art world. I think of "fashion" as "costume"--as a way to convey an idea or a concept. I appreciate what some designers do the same way one appreciates what an avant garde sculptor or painter or performance artist does. And in a way, these designers are performance artists. For me, it is not about what is hanging on racks in stores, but what these artists are creating and the ideas and concepts they are working with as an influence on their marvelous creativity. It is moving sculpture. It is theater. Fashion and clothing at this level serve as a kind of visual shorthand. A piece of clothing in the hands of a designer can evoke a place, a region, a country, a specific time or an entire era, a work of art such as a novel or film or painting, a class of people, even a social, financial, or spiritual element... and the combination of such pieces of clothing, as well as their harmony or contrast, can tell a fascinating story.

But the COVID-19 pandemic has brought tremendous suffering and change to the world. And the fashion industry has seen major seismic shifts not only in presentation but also in philosophy. Many houses have decided to cut the number of shows they present per year. Most have decided to gang men's and women's shows into one. And most major brands are taking hard looks at how they do business in terms of waste and sustainability: many brands and designers are increasingly recycling/upcycling and using dead stock. These changes seem as if they will be permanent.

But for now, at the tail end of the pandemic, there will be some differences. At Milano Moda Uomo, only three designers will be presenting actual physical presentations: Dolce & Gabbana, Etro, and Giorgio Armani.

JUNE - JULY 2021 FASHION SCHEDULE -- SPRING/SUMMER 2022

Digital London Fashion Week (Men's and Women's)
June 12 - 14, 2021
https://londonfashionweek.co.uk/

Milano Moda Uomo
June 18 - 22, 2021
https://www.cameramoda.it/en/milano-moda-uomo/

Paris Fashion Week Homme
June 22 - 27, 2021
https://parisfashionweek.fhcm.paris/en/calendar/

Pitti Uomo, Florence
June 30 - July 2, 2021
https://uomo.pittimmagine.com/en