Scene setting: A fabric sculpture by Franz Erhard Walther stood at the head of the catwalk in the Maison de l’UNESCO space. Since the early 1960s, the German artist has posed fundamental questions about the conventional idea of the artwork as a fixed pedestal or wall-bound ‘thing’. From 1978 up to 1986 he conceived a series of installations that he named ‘wallformations,’ made using sheets of canvas and basic clothing patterns. Jonathan Anderson’s collection was shown in front of Walther’s 1985 piece Gelbe Modellierung: a large cotton backdrop into which items of an archetypal wardrobe – a pair of trousers, a shirt, a jacket – are fixed. Utility and performance collided.
Mood board: This was Anderson’s first catwalk show for his mens’ collection. Previously the Spanish house has chosen to exhibit its collections through immersive installations designed by M/M Paris at the Place Saint Sulpice showroom. This move towards movement gave the proportions more space to perform. The play of the length of shirts or the width of trousers worked in chorus with Walther’s art – abstraction at a human scale. A study in fabrication and proportion. From the sinuosity of evening suits to the rugged graphics of sportswear, juxtaposing ideals of masculinity were dislocated with the savoir faire of the atelier. There was pastel leather quilting; a penny loafer maxed up into a soft calfskin wader boot done up over trousers; a blanket coat in multi colours with a fringe sleeve.
Finishing touches: Long, striped shirts had tufted shearling shoulder seams and cuffs. There were stamped croc patch pockets. The brand’s artisanal eccentricity and youthful eclecticism was there in the coloured pebble beads, peppered onto knits. Stand out were the roomy houndstooth suiting and the new tuxedo – a nipped 2-button suit with asymmetric lapels. It was worn with super-long shirt sleeves that playfully jutted out from the jacket cuffs. A new line of oblong sunglasses was revealed, as was the maison’s signature Puzzle bag in burnished hand-braided leather. A giant Gate bag balanced on an urgent shoulder. §
