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

The Moan Game

1. Wendelien Daan Dark Lights, Shine Loud, 2013
2. Flint-Fuyt The Belgian Beat, 2013
3. Collier Schorr Fantastic Man 2013

Walter van Beirendonck Fall/Winter 2013. A study in male glamour composed of lurex suits, python platforms and spandex turtlenecks. One of the strongest editorial collections that only rarely made it into stores. Why?
/HORST

Anew, A New Male

1. Comme des Garçons Spring/Summer 2014
2. Meadham Kirchhoff Spring/Summer 2014
3. J.W. Anderson Spring/Summer 2014
4. Martine Rose Fall/Winter 2013
5. Dimitri Arvanitis Graduate Collection 2013

I'd like to introduce 'Anew' as a new term for a new movement, a new school. After 'Antwerp 6' we have 'Anew 4+'. Constituting itself of Martine Rose, Meadham Kirchhoff, Dimitri Arvanitis and J.W. Anderson. Under kind custody of über-mother Rei Kawakubo, they are establishing what has been introduced as 'gender-bending', the 'metrosexual' or 'trans' and 'fear-male'.

Martine Rose delivers the core theme: 'Expect Perfection'. With lurex tops, cropped denim jackets and fabric-floating skrousers that recall Brenda Walsh, stilt and street walkers. Anderson, for his part, proposes blousy neckholder tops in decorative scarf/curtain prints - the after-effect of architectural experimentation. Kitchen, apron and housewife kitsch, rubber coats and sweat-wet hairdos are the identifying marks of Meadham Kirchhoff's fetishized male housewife. While Dimitri Arvanitis tarts up a clique of pony riding society gayls for their highly anticipated night out of the closet. So what and who is the Anew Male? A female pastiche? A reworked cliché? We see party girls, nurses, millionaire's devotees, call girls and ladyboys - starring in The Real Husbands of London, Paris and Antwerp. My question to you is: Are you one of them?
/HORST

Sherman Questions XIII

1. Cindy Sherman Untitled #473, 2008
2. Marc Jacobs Fall/Winter 2013

Isn't it ironic how both images as aspirations of 'luxury' result in something chintzy? Cindy and Marc present an exercise in fake fur and cheap perfume. Layering kitsch until it becomes rich.
/HORST

View all parts of Sherman Questions

A Short History Of The Plastic Raincoat In Popular Culture V

or 'How Horst Influences Fashion'






1. Nina Ricci Spring/Summer 2013
2. Emilio Pucci Spring/Summer 2013
3. Holly Fulton Spring/Summer 2013
4. Valentino Spring/Summer 2013
5. Versus Spring/Summer 2013

Each season, at least five design houses follow the call and demands of Horst. Owing to a subliminal kind of personal agenda, the plastic raincoat has regained its relevance. How crystal clear.
/HORST

Image credits Catwalking