Real Fantasy, 2013

or 'Piece Of Me'

Top Prada
Trousers Acne

The best collection ever created. Prada Fall/Winter 2008. A historical moment, impossible to be restaged or relived. A real fantasy and wet dream come true. Men in ruffled skirts, sparkly cummerbunds and extravagant bibs. A radical truth.
/HORST

Post London VI

A 'False Encyclopaedia' double feature with Taj Ragland, discussing:
Xander Zhou Spring/Summer 2014

For Spring/Summer 2014 Xander Zhou has created a post-apocalyptic cyber uniform. Zhou's customer doesn't exist in this dimension. He's clearly designing for the technology-crazed avatars of the internet. Zhou pushed full force into uncharted territory of the Web, presenting cold, clinical, deconstructed suiting with a focus on experimentation with strong contrasts. The silhouettes were flat, straight and unisex and Zhou's use of an array of tones, fabrics and references made for an otherworldly effect. The details and accessories add an extra plane to the Xander Zhou man's story, the super-long sleeves, silver chokers and PVC patches on black loafers add personality to the looks, no matter how disaffected and aloof.

Zhou's piece de resistance came in the form of a group of photo-collaged car coats, slathered in screen grabs of internet search engines, social media, error messages and Asian horror films. A complete wardrobe for a desensitized, analytic internet-dwelling youth. Count me in.
/TAJ

As dishevelled study of post-apocalyptic rent boys, Xander Zhou crosses Prada's futurism with bittersweet cosplay. Throwing in various artefacts ranging from the 'cute' and 'horrible' to the 'naive' and 'unrighteous'. Eventually, these forces end tangled up in gallimaufry - just like the misplaced collars and 'wrong' sleeve lengths.
/HORST








1. Xander Zhou Spring/Summer 2014
2. Google 1998-2013
3. Jeremy Scott Fall/Winter 2012
4. Columbine High School massacre 1999
5. Battle Royale 2000
6. Prada Fall/Winter 2008
7. Robert Mapplethorpe Dominick And Elliot, 1979
8. Xander Zhou Spring/Summer 2014

All about Taj Ragland

Now & Then VI

Part V of 'Duplicate Diptych Week'



1. Prada Spring/Summer 2013
2. Prada Spring/Summer 1997

When Miuccia Prada is referring to... Miuccia Prada, family heritage becomes family business. The redesigned campaign for a re-retro signature: A colour block collar, a boyish haircut, a particular pose.
/HORST

Schach Matt

Part III of 'Duplicate Diptych Week'



1. Paul Outerbridge Ide Collar, 1922
2. Julia Hetta Noblesse Nordique, 2012

The creating of a duplicate is avoided when new elements are added. Thus the 'duplicate diptych' depicted above may as well be referred to as 'composed copy' - each detail meticulously thought-out.
/HORST

Identity Crisis

1. Raf Simons Fall/Winter 2013
2. Prada Fall/Winter 2013

After a recurrent tribute to Helmut Lang via Jil Sander (the cross, the show credit print), Raf is channeling Miuccia. Just like Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin in Big Business (1988) someone swapped bodies. But somehow something got lost in transmission. And comedy turns into grotesque horror, see The Fly (1958).
/HORST

Obviously IV

1. Raf Simons x Fred Perry Fall/Winter 2009
2. Raf Simons Fall/Winter 2012
3. Prada Fall/Winter 2012

Thanks to the uncertain personae of Miuccia Simons, it will be all about the triple collar. Its interpretation varies from jacket on shirt on shirt to jacket on shirt on turtleneck to jacket on jacket on shirt. Continue the sentence.
/HORST

Post Paris XVIII

A false encyclopaedic guide to the menswear collections, presenting:
Walter van Beirendonck Spring/Summer 2013

1. Pierre et Gilles St. Sebastian, 1987
2. Pablo Picasso Pierrot with a Mask, 1918
3. Isa Genzken Urlaub, 2004

This collection had everything unsightly you can imagine: gay kitsch, harlequin collars and loads of foam. All put together à la Genzken. There were bits of bondage, too. And mythologic references for which reason we do forgive.
/HORST

P.S.: The woman sitting front row to the left was clearly trying to make the models trip.

Antilogy

Raf Simons Spring/Summer 2013

Love the slits, hate the prints. Love the sneakers, hate the square-toed shoes. Love the collars, hate the shoulder buttoning. It's been a show of antagonisms, oppositions, protest. Applying feminine codes in the most dégagé manner.
/HORST