Repeat, Inverse

Thom Browne Fall/Winter 2014

I am happy this does exist. What Rei proposed as two-dimensionality for women, now returns as two-three-dimensionality for men. Of course, Thom had to add a deeper inlay, that of foliation and vacuum.
/HORST

Image credits Catwalking

"Prada Banality", Post-Painterly Art VI

or 'Fashion For Intellectuals' (FFI)


1. Francis Bacon Study (Self-Portrait), 1976
2. Prada Fall/Winter 2013

Prada's Fall/Winter 2013 inhabitants are twisted bodies à la Francis Bacon. Dropped shoulders, twisted collars. Hanging down, letting loose. Layers of fabric, misplaced, distorted luxury. A motif that calls back the tablecloth pattern which interweaves the whole collection. The tablecloth as symbol of the commonplace, the rustic and homey, often accompanied by Dirndl shapes. Why? The ordinary is used as 'distortion' technique within Prada's multi-million luxury context.
/HORST

A Short History Of Typography In Popular Culture VI

1. Xander Zhou Fall/Winter 2013
2. David Salle Tennyson, 1983
3. Klar Fall/Winter 2013 & Xander Zhou Fall/Winter 2013
4. David Salle Mingus, 2010
5. Xander Zhou Fall/Winter 2013
6. David Salle Good Bye D,1982

Presenting: A pop song, a duett: 'Boys Will Be Boys' (Tennyson Remix) by Xander Zhou and David Salle. A double feature block-letter buster: 'Klar Mingus', a horror movie, and 'Wicked Cine Clubs', a high-school drama with explicit 'undressing' scenes. This fall, everywhere nearby you.
/HORST

Belated Regrets, Once Again

Prada Spring/Summer 2010

And three years later, Miuccia gets back at me. What was a grey mesh wish-wash then, turns out to be a monochrome fountain of youth now. Which leads us to one conclusion: You can always buy Prada, and wear it some day eventually.
/HORST

See also original (quite opposite) review

The Real Winner Of Paris Fashion Week, An Afterthought

Gareth Pugh Fall/Winter 2013

Poetry aside, comparisons forgotten - I will now speak my word and thought, as it is.

The best collection for Fall/Winter 2013, presented during Paris Fashion Week, was - by far - presented by Gareth Pugh. It was a romantic, psychologic and deeply emotional exercise in womenswear, respectively its recurrent icon: the dress.

A balance act of soft and hard, cut and dimension. It felt massive and out of proportion, out of sight with the 'real' world. Women disappeared in grey pyramids of crispy textiles - just to be resurrected again as superhuman goddesses. Similar ideas have been proposed by Junya Watanabe and Thom Browne, and lately also by Maison Martin Margiela or Giles but it never felt as 'right' and logical. The transformation of each look happened so meticulously, one had to look twice to feel the 'difference' - just to arrive at the total other end, in the end.
/HORST

Now & Then V

1. Comme des Garçons Homme Plus Fall/Winter 2013
2. Comme des Garçons Fall/Winter 2007

Naïvety comes in recurrent shape of comic(al) hats. And it has taken men a few years to be accepted within the realms of infantility, ruled by those ideas that Rei Kawakubo is introducing in successive doses.
/HORST

Image credits Style.com, Catwalking

A Short History Of Stripes In Popular Culture V

1. Acne Spring/Summer 2013
2. Lanvin Fall/Winter 2012

Boys in stripes: alternating between the horizontal and vertical, light and dark, matt and shine. A lined-up mosaic of beige, orange, blue and grey. The pyjama as new sartorial decision.
/HORST

Religiously Transgender

Etro Spring/Summer 2013

Etro explores the essence of its original existence and idea. This time contemplating on the men's galabia and turban. Contemporary and successfully as I may conclude, contrary to first reviewer's opinion.
/HORST

St. Prada Campus

Prada Spring/Summer 2013

It was a blend of Miuccia's golf cowboys from Spring/Summer 2012 and her Emergency Room scrubs from Spring/Summer 2011, extended by a parade of 'high waist' trompe l'œil trousers and the almost obligatory sandals with socks.

A bit Berlin second hand boutique, a bit public pool 'lost and found' corner, a bit humanistic campus picnic. All in all, it drew the image of a man I'd feel attracted to, having a glass of red and conversations on erotic architecture. Which, as it turns out, doesn't make any sense at all.
/HORST

Concrete Living

1. Matador JaG's House & Yabu Pushelberg Privtae Residence New York
2. MYCC Mass Customization prototype & buildinglandscape Steps House
3. AZL Atelier Zhanglei Slit House & Arturo Montanelli Stone House
4. e2a Architects Lakeside House & Loft Taiwan

Four proposals for your domestication. Please not that the pairings of inside and outside, of architecture and interior, are merely fictional. Constructed for your enjoyment only.
/HORST