Rub + Rubbing + Clubbing

Maison Martin Margiela Spring/Summer 2015

The most amazing menswear collection that has happened in a long time. And although the Rosso Diesel system has taken ownership, the team around Matthieu Blazy delivers high quality true to the eponymous founder.
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Chain Reaction II

fig a. A panel dress by Martin Margiela. And a panel dress by Maison Martin Margiela. Restaged in the latest pre-collection lookbook that looked back to the label's beginnings.

fig b. A trench coat by Veronique Branquino. And a trech coat by Veronique Branquino, accompanied by variations of Anderson and Anonymous (Maison Martin Margiela).

fig c. A black suit and the iconic image of Stella Tennant by Mark Borthwick. Two classics that set the tone for the retro-designer-triptych.

fig d. A pinstripe dress. A striped dress. A checked suit. And a shirt bra. The chronological emancipation of menswear, seen here pushed furthest by Anderson who always bows to and borrows from Kawakubo.

1. Maison Martin Margiela Spring/Summer 2006
2. Maison Martin Margiela Pre Spring/Summer 2015
3. Veronique Branquinho Fall/Winter 2004
4. Veronique Branquinho Pre Spring/Summer 2015
5. J.W. Anderson Pre Spring/Summer 2015
6. Maison Martin Margiela Pre Spring/Summer 2015
7. Maison Martin Margiela Spring/Summer 1999 & Mark Borthwick Stella Tennant, 2000
8. Maison Martin Margiela Pre Spring/Summer 2015
9. Veronique Branquinho Pre Spring/Summer 2015
10. J.W. Anderson Pre Spring/Summer 2015
11. Maison Martin Margiela Pre Spring/Summer 2015
12. Comme des Garçons Fall/Winter 1995
13. J.W. Anderson Pre Spring/Summer 2015
14. Veronique Branquinho Pre Spring/Summer 2015

The world is a faded cloth. Designers are looking back to their origins, their founding years. The 1970s via the 1990s. Even if they weren't there. Together, they are recreating classics.

Veronique Branquinho 2015 = Veronique Branquinho, circa 1995 (regaining)
J.W. Anderson 2015 = Comme des Garçons, circa 1995 (redoing)
Maison Martin Margiela 2015 = Martin Margiela, circa 1995 (remembering)

Their colours are beige, black and blue. Their garments are tailored and masculine with softened volume and deconstructed details. Everything is nostalgic like blurry sepia images in a family album. But unfortunately, those photos aren't real, they are the result of filters.
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Image credits Vogue

Graduate Charts

1. Andrew Sauceda CSM BA Graduate Collection

2. Michael Griffin CSM BA Graduate Collection

3. Ed Lee CSM BA Graduate Collection

Transgender aunts in strapless bustier gowns, workwear denim and floppy heads. The sexual revolution of a farmer's confused son (Andrew). The circus is in town and every male prostitute is going. An oriental silk costume drama with eruptive ending (Michael). Working 9 to 5 at the redlight wallstreet. Where horny investment bankers wear pinstripe suits and dragon tattoos, mixing business with pleasure (Ed).
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Image credits Vogue

A Short History Of The Bandeau Top In Popular Culture II

1. Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 1998
2. Raf Simons Fall/Winter 2010, David Elfin Spring/Summer 2010, Jil Sander Spring/Summer 2009
3. Jean Paul Gaultier Spring/Summer 2010
4. J.W. Anderson Spring/Summer 2014
5. Julius Spring/Summer 2012

The manly adaption is owned by Alexander McQueen, Jean Paul Gaultier and Raf Simons. Visually cutting away shoulder and arms from the rest of the body, the foremost muscular parts are put on display. A study of the fragmented male.
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Stepsisters: Jil and Miuccia II

1. Jil Sander Spring/Summer 2014
2. Prada Spring/Summer 2014

Two women, two collections, two extremes. While Sander raises the waist line and crops the top part with three-dimensional effect, Prada is framing the female bust with double-layered strings of sequins. Together, they create a revearsed heart-shape as main principle of construction.
/HORST

Stepsisters: Jil and Miuccia

1. Jil Sander Spring/Summer 2014
2. Prada Spring/Summer 2014

Two women, two collections, two extremes. While Sander and Prada pursue distinctly different paths, they synchronously define fashion's pecking order. Together, they reassured one parallel rule of feminity: women wear bras. As bandeau version or trompe l'œil bustier insert.
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