VETEMENTS, THE GRIT I LOVE
In their second season since they first sent shock waves on the fashion circuit, Vetements is still reverberating a frisson of excitement. The off kilter, anti glam, somewhat jarringly ugly items have definitely struck a chord as a rebellious affront to the all the precious fashion frou frou and excess embellishment of yore. But to cast it off as just creative styling making bad taste look good would be too reductive a statement.
Granted there’s a whole lot of subversion, albeit sometimes achingly cool – an almost dismissive sneer at what is simply pretty and flattering – it nonetheless takes a certain level of confidence and a marvel in one’s own individuality to carry off some of these looks. The aesthetic, if one looks hard at it was always there – the raw 90’s metal heads, hacked drug dealers in sports gear, the tainted allure of raw Eurotrash and Eastern block sensibility. Trainspotting crossbred with Eastern Promises, with a bit Cabaret Voltaire and Joy Division blasting in the background. Cultural references that came part and parcel with growing pains and a harkening to grunge and punk infested youth.
The latest Fall 2016 collection delivered in the confines of an old Church in Paris, was no less disruptive or thrilling than their earlier outing last season in a derelict club. What I loved about it was rather than getting shoddier and retorting to impossible to wear items for the sake of “cool”, the pieces that resounded in the collection had a suspiciously elegant take on them.
THE EXAGGERATED SHOULDERS BALANCED WITH HIGH WAISTED OVERSIZED PANTS, THE SHIRTING AND FITTED BLAZERS - AT ONCE AWKWARD & FLATTERING - WERE ALL ITEMS THAT WOULD FIT SEAMLESSLY INTO ONE’S WARDROBE, FOR A SIMULTANEOUSLY IRREVERENT AND RELEVANT JOLT.
Watching the collection unfurl with its tirade of non-models storming the catwalk, DIY haircuts and under eye circles in tow, filled me with a compelling sense of excitement and dread. On one hand, there is the thrill of witnessing the unconventional and authentic vision of the underbelly surfacing to the forefront; on the other, the fear of every trend hoarding, privileged and moneyed fashion whores stomping out the brand’s independent and subversive spirit.
What comforts me though is the conviction that with Vetements comes a differentiated vision that has enough breath to continually provoke and shift us from our comfortable acceptance of normative standards of beauty, convention and high fashion.
Even if it comes in the humble form of the ubiquitous hoodie.
