- Junya Watanabe, Fall 2000. - Maison Martin Margiela, Couture, Fall 2013. - Ann Demeulemeester, Spring 1992. - Ulrich Wulff at Tif Sigfrids, Los Angeles.
The simplest you can get was definitely at Junya Watanabe’s (photo 1) - white shirts - with the most - aesthetically - complicated you can get - origami: together they made a wonderful match. Black and white was the essential palette, the pieces were manipulated beautifully: leather maxi-skirts looking like fish scales, amazingly constructed three-dimensional shapes for jackets, trousers, decorative elements, capes reminding of Chinese paper lamps. It was wonderland - and wonderful.
Superwoman is instead the first word you could think of in front of Tsumori Chisato’s collection (photo 2), where comics were the centerpiece. Amazing illustrations over cute A-line dresses or baseball jackets gave an atmosphere in between 60s and 70s. Loved the pieces where the comic inspiration was more subtle but still there, through shapes borrowed from graphic novels - like cloudy curved lines or spiked figures. At Vivienne Westwood’s (photo 3) Andreas Kronthaler’s t-shirt at the end of the show didn’t leave space for doubt - if ever there was any: this show was about the concept of unisex. Stilettos and fitted jackets or bustier for men, formal suits for women: roles were switched, but they were also mixed and reinvented. In the usual extravaganza of prints, the most interesting pieces were definitely the extremely oversize suits, changing from being formal pieces of clothing to a comfy streetwear choice.
With experimentation at its purest, Comme des Garçons (photo 4) never upsets. This time with all the lace, bows, white and brocade, I had the impression Rei Kawakubo wanted to talk about what happens behind the bedroom doors. I read some reviews talking about mourning, but I guess this mourning theme took over a little bit too much, both on the runways and in the reviewer’s minds. No, if there was mourning in this collection it was linked - as many times it’s done - to a very different yet close topic: sex. But it was sex in Kawakubo’s style: there was lace, but it was not used in a common way, it covered the body, nearly eating it, prevailing over it; bows did the same, covering every inch of the body. And then gold brocade, nothing more representative for the idea of luxury.
Basic silhouettes and the pairing of thick structured materials like plaid and leather with ethereal chiffon were the choice of Acne Studios. Beautiful the decorating maxi-stitches. It was then the last ready-to-wear collection for Viktor & Rolf (photo 5) before they completely dedicate their work to the couture - and you could actually see some couture in this collection. Brocade and metallic colours were rich but not actually the real couture moment of the collection; it was more about the structure and the perfect tailoring of shirts, with meters of ruffles and crenellated edges giving the impression of unfinished - yet, it’s perfectly finished and awesomely beautiful.
Day 6
Rei Kawakubo’s secondary line Comme des Garçons Comme des Garçons opened the day and it was impossible not to imagine Asian schoolgirls wearing every single piece of this collection: from the Korean collars to the black Chinese-inspired dresses and the ensemble reminding of sailor uniforms - Sailor Moon was a Japanese manga and anime after all - Rei Kawakubo seemed to explore the world of Asian youth. Wonderful the insertion of activewear jackets among formal suits and little dresses. Couture activewear is possible, at least judging from Kenzo show (photo 6), where raincoats with bright-coloured stripes were paired with pieces with artsy details - materials manipulated to look like feathers, for example - and hi-tech fabric. Loved the flowery prints treated as camouflage.
Geometrical panels in different colours adorning extra-minimal pieces were the fil rouge for Céline collection (photo 7): slip dresses with extremely thin straps, trench coats where the focus was on the very tiny waist, duvet capes, delicately printed blouses and oversize ensembles in pure simple Céline style.
Maison Rabih Kayrouz used tiny little cuts to give some more personality to the full-coloured surface of these extremely minimal dresses, with beautiful knitwear in neutral colours, juxtaposition of layers of materials in different cuts and new innovative geometrical necklines. Long silhouettes could be found at Chloé, with a tiny tad of ruffles - which are always welcome in a 70s inspired collection. Beautiful the patchwork coats and the sexy deep cleavages showing the right amount of skin.
Akris chose horizontal lines reproposed in different ways: quilted, knitted, with a degrading effect given by the quality of a particular type of fur. Colours were never extreme: they went probably towards grey and white or cream, and even when there was black, it had a sort of powdery feel to it. Jean Paul Lespagnard (photo 8) wrapped his models in beautiful tartan or abstract-inspired coats, with exaggerated proportions and revisited construction - look at the coat in the photo and notice the beautiful idea of moving the line of the shoulder very low down the sleeve. Cropped trousers were then paired to multicoloured socks, in a collection where the attention for details was essential.
Amazingly young and successful was Kolor’s collection (photo 9). I particularly loved the oversize shapes, the duvet coats, asymmetrical skirts and then the amount of sweaters with interesting details, paired with pleated conservative skirts or the plain white blouses with giant maxi-skirts at the bottom. Grand finale with Givenchy (photo 10) where a sort of dark past was readable in the looks conceived by Riccardo Tisci. Starting with black velvet and going through high necklines, conservative silhouettes, lace, dévorée fabrics, everything seemed to take you far away to the Victorian Age. There was a great deal of modernity though, especially in the subtle sexiness highlighted by naked shoulders and see-through textiles.
In today’s uncertain climate, many designers are thinking about functionality when creating garments and using technical materials to achieve it. But it was over 20 years ago that the industry started paying attention to these “magic” fabrics that spoke of the future.
Junya Watanabe was one of the designers that pioneered their use. To mimic the effect of the cellophane gel used in lighting, he developed a polyurethane-laminated nylon tricot for his fall 1995 Mutants collection, and his famous, hand-sewn honeycomb ruffs for fall 2000 were made using nylon organza. Manus et machina in action.
In his spring 2000 collection, titled Function and Practicality, Watanabe made truly dramatic use of a water repellent fabric, created by the Japanese mill Toray. To demonstrate the fabric’s utility, models walked under a cascade of water to the strains of The Carpenters’ 1971 hit “Rainy Days and Mondays.” They wore headscarves and pretty shift dresses in an early 1960s cookie-cutter vein, a number of which were reversible. This was fashion with function, which has long been Watanabe’s way. “Sometimes I feel a little ridiculous putting so much thinking into a dress that looks that simple,” Watanabe told Vogue when talking about an earlier lineup, a sentiment that applies here as well.
The dresses were colorful and girlish, featuring ruffles and polka dots and florals. “His waterproofs are fanciful, feminine, and metamorphic: a Lilly Pulitzer-esque shift that, if unzipped and unpeeled and rezipped, mutates from one dress to another; a shawl that drops to become the ruffled skirt of a flirty dress,” wrote Sally Singer in Vogue at the time. “Every season, Watanabe takes on an unlikely challenge and overcomes it with humor and a resilient devotion to conservative notions of elegance.”
The collection was received with delight, and it’s been reported that the reclusive designer had to take two bows. Outlander star Caitriona Balfe, who opened the show, remembers it clearly. “Walking through the rain effect during the show was magical… you could feel the water drops bounce off the fabric, but other than feeling it on our arms we remained completely dry. There was a palpable buzz coming off the audience and I remember feeling so proud to have been part of something so unique and special.”
