Mood board: There’s something liberating about the lavish. There’s escapism in opulence. Glenn Martens took the creative helm of Y/Project in 2013. In recent seasons he has steered his label away from the confines of ultra-cool streetwear into something more magnificent, haute couture-inspired and dramatic. Young designers today are not to be defined by one passing trend. Looks are bold. Decades are mashed up. Silhouettes are tongue-in-cheek. Y/Project’s A/W 2019 collection includes dreamlike medieval dresses, 1980s denim hotpants, spliced and diced 1940s fur coats, and a final section of hilariously hyperbolic evening gowns. A Renaissance faux fur, faux leather pleated dress and a body swathing meringue-like ball gown.
Finishing touches: Y/Project’s gaiter-like boots have become an accessory signature. Only emphasised by the brand’s 2018 collaboration with Ugg on huge shearling-lined waders. For A/W 2019, these were imagined in leather, and had both a swashbuckling and equestrian élan.
Best in show: Building up a strong set of accessories is an essential for a blossoming brand. Often bags, shoes and jewellery are the commercial bread and butter of a fashion label. Y/Project’s hyperbolic catwalk jewellery is gaining momentum, and offers a deliciously ironic comment on how these pieces vye for attention on the runway. For A/W 2019, styles were huge. Shards of coloured glass or hammered metal twisting around the ear lobe, bold chokers formed from the figures of nude women, huge spirals of metal, dangling from the ear towards the décolletage. §
