Team work: The show – entitled ‘Orlando’ – was the first in a three act project by the brand. First is the S/S 2020 menswear show, staged in three parts, each bathed in its own pool of coloured light, directed by staging designer Thierry Dreyfus, accompanied by live drum music selected by Vincent Glanzmann. The show concluded with an array of black, form fitting tailoring-cum-dresses; the models wore knotted frill sleeve shirts. Act two will be the womenswear show in September and the third and final stage is a forthcoming collaboration with Austrian composer Olga Neuwirth, who is premiering a production of Orlando at the Vienna State Opera in December this year.
Mood board: Identity and gaiety were bound up in Kawakubo’s S/S 2020 collection, taking inspiration from Virginia Woolf’s gender-defying novel. Much like the book, the clothes explored transformation and liberation through time. Suiting had draping and scalloped edges. Elizabethan frock coats merged into archetypal men’s suiting. Bell sleeves jutted from tailored coats. Tapestries, lace and quilting deconstructed perceptions of sex. The frivolity of historical dress burst through; pink satin exploded from the middle of tailored jackets in floral jacquard. Multiple collars were layered and froth forward.
Finishing touches: The brand’s footwear collaborations are much coveted. For the coming season, the brand has worked again with British boot company George Cox, originators of the iconic creeper, who produced a red and violet version of the suede lace-up, crepe sole Popboy style. Nike’s Air Max 95 has been re-shaped too – it is the first time a company has been permitted to change its silhouette. ‘Vain trifles as they seem, clothes have, they say, more important offices than to merely keep us warm. They change our view of the world and the world’s view of us,’ Woolf once wrote. How true. §
