One might get an impression that John Galliano, having finally received all-fashion forgiveness and for the second year “with impunity” creating for the Maison Martin Margiela brand, unleashed all his inevitably restrained for a couple of years, crazy ideas. At the same time these ideas, like a wine, fermented to a state of acrid vinegar, conveniently coincide with the chaos happening in the world.
In the new couture fall-winter collection we see familiar freaks on the catwalk in outfits inspired by several trends at the same time. The most important of them, the leitmotif passing through all 27 looks, is the deconstructive street style, which determines the fashion of the second decade of the XXI century. In the dimensionless “inside-out” cut of tied shirt sleeves playing the role of a top or a skirt – anything except their direct purpose – in rubber boots, rising almost to underwear, and in a combination of contrasting textures it is easy to guess the impact of sole heroes of our fashion time – the young and daring Demna Gvasalia’s brand Vetements. Add in a piece of English punk from Vivien Westwood (fifth look is so close in spirit to her “Anglomania”) and a pinch of Japanese mattress-pillow vanguard of Comme des Garçons (take a look at # 6).
Above all that “outrageous grandeur”reigns the spirit of the French Revolution – the theme so dear to John from his graduation collection presented by rebel designer in the distant 1984. Look at those jauntily cocked hats, some of them covered with a “beekeeper net”, they are nothing less than a bicorn of Napoleon! While # 7 and # 16 Greek style tunics with bare shoulders are so similar to the silhouettes of his «Les merveilleuses» collection (similar silhouettes came in vogue immediately after the Revolution, and enjoyed success at all Paris trendsetters, including the Empress Josephine Bonaparte).
Everything is extravagant in the collection: from model face expressions, either frightened, or trying to scare used to such escapades audience and “blurred” asymmetric make up (a tribute to the mystical founder of the house), to lines going beyond the oversize and materials, some of which are truly revolutionary: take, for example the look # 23- a transparent knee length dress as if blown from a glass.
Certainly we stand at a threshold of a new fashion era, radically changing our traditional concepts of beauty. And John Galliano, as a true visionary, creates a new fashion, not giving a damn to conservatives. To follow him or laugh at his creations – is only a personal matter.
Photo credits: Maison Margiela