Exquisite Corpse II

1. John Chamberlain Hawk Flies Again, 2010
2. Tom Burr Worn Out, 2005
3. Loewe Spring/Summer 2015
4. Ellery Spring/Summer 2015

Conceptual art giving birth to cardboard fashion. Ready for take-away and self-assemblage. Throwing stuff onto mannequins, throwing fabric onto the customer who becomes the costumer. Carambolage as collage is the material fashion dreams are made of.
/HORST

Fashion Charts XI

1. Rick Owens Spring/Summer 2015

2. Dries van Noten Spring/Summer 2015

3. Yohji Yamamoto Spring/Summer 2015

Longing for strap-ons. Who would've ever thought that those three will be partners in harness crime. Alien netwear (Rick) vs. ballet fencing (Dries) vs. amputee tailoring (Yohji). Another top three.
/HORST

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.
/HORST

Image credits Vogue

Fashion Charts II

1. Julien David Fall/Winter 2014

2. Comme des Garçons Homme Plus Fall/Winter 2014

3. John Lawrence Sullivan Fall/Winter 2014

Longing for dysfunctional tailoring, from Art to Deco. A psychological study of misplaced pockets (Julian), doubled lapel (Rei) and origami paneling (John). A physical readymade of the newly discovered, already established and ever ambitious. My top three.
/HORST

Paths Towards Modernity III

A fictive documentary in art and fashion.

1. Walter van Beirendonck Spring/Summer 2014
2. Isa Genzken Bouquet, 2004
3. Isa Genzken Mutter Mit Kind, 2004
4. Isa Genzken Oil (Detail), 2007
5. Walter van Beirendonck Fall/Winter 2013
6. Walter van Beirendonck Fall/Winter 2009
7. Isa Genzken MLR, 1992
8. Isa Genzken Schauspieler, 2013
9. Nick Knight Dream The World Awake, 2011
10. W&LT Fall/Winter 2009
11. Isa Genzken Schauspieler, 2013
12. Isa Genzken Installation view, 2012
13. Walter van Beirendonck Fall/Winter 2012
14. Isa Genzken Fuck The Bauhaus, 2000
15. Walter van Beirendonck The Sequel, 2009
16. Walter van Beirendonck Spring/Summer 2008
17. Isa Genzken Installation view, 2012
18. Isa Genzken Mona Isa X (Gold), 2010
19. Walter van Beirendonck Fall/Winter 2013
20. Isa Genzken Schauspieler, 2013
21. Walter van Beirendonck Spring/Summer 2009
22. Walter van Beirendonck Landed-Geland Part I, 2001
23. Isa Genzken Ohr, 1980

Cardboard, plastic, mirror, spray-paint, acrylic, metal, textile ribbons, light ropes, mirror foil, colour print on paper, MDF and casters. Materials that constitute the fashion collections and art installations of Walter van Beirendonck and Isa Genzken. Glitter foil and foam structures are their totems of popular culture, stacked on top of each other.

Rather than propelling a material-ist approach of 'readymades', the works function as allegories. The matter's value is absolutely neclected and the singular parts taken out of their original purpose and meaningfulness. By re-combining this 'material', Beirendonck and Genzken create new bodies, structures and machines that are abstract and futurist in form but reminiscent of everyday, well-known ideas and domestic objects.

The end result is a 'transformational cluster' of non-related parts that are forced or molded into a new grouping. Similar to child play or alchemist experiment, both figures follow the human urge to explore the principle of cause and effect. A 'what-happens-if' working mode.
/HORST