Mood board: While a host of leading luxury labels have fully embraced the streetwear trend that bubbled up from burgeoning designers, emerging labels like Richard Quinn in London and Marine Serre in Paris have embraced an elegance nodding to the salons of Haute Couture. Y/Project’s Glenn Martens cannot be defined by one aesthetic. While his signature poppered denim, and reinterpretation of sports pieces like cricket jumpers and hoodies have a certain streetwear pull, his collections span genres and silhouettes, and are hybrid takes on the Gen Z wardrobe. But the closing look of his S/S 2019 show – an emerald silk dress with an architectural black boa – lent a new sophistication to his label. There were still the standout casual pieces, deconstructed in typical Martens style, like hybrid jeans and jogging bottoms, jagged knitted vest tops, and Argyll tube dresses, but the gowns, gauzy overcoats and even a mother-of-pearl bustier in the offering, bought a new and surprising elegance to Martens’ off-kilter aesthetic.
Best in show: The mastery here was in the interplay of silhouettes. A herringbone dress with a cocooning hem, a sporty zip up tracksuit with a cape detail, and that bustier adorned with mother-of-pearl petals, paired with punky city shorts.
Finishing touches: Y/Project’s catwalk jewellery plays with XL proportions, like giant pearl hoop earrings which swirl around the ear, or others resembling miniature Slinkys. There was a terrific accessories offering on show here: earrings like huge baubles, or lengthy antennae, paired alongside bags resembling leather accordions and strappy stilettos.§
