Out Of Touch

Si Chan Fall/Winter 2012

What could have sprung from Erwin Wurm's walking sculptures, is a rubber glove inferno wrapped around a man's body. Dangling from the neck, finding especial grip in the male crotch. What makes it charming rather than disturbing is the naïve colour palette.
/HORST

Exquisite Corpse

1. Bruce Nauman Prayer Wheel, 1986
2. Anna Gaskell Anagram, 2003
3. Acne Spring/Summer 2015
4. Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2015

An associative drawing in an associative culture. Copy has been replaced by collage. What is begun by one is to be continued by another. Body parts as vegetable as luxury goods as commodity products. And again printed on body parts.
/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

Art Interiors VI

Artworks Johannes Spehr

The naive interiors of Johannes Spehr are inhabited by (half-naked) bodies and builders. Executing naughty practices and performing routined acts. And while doing so, they create chaos, fire, holes, stains and puddles. Demolition, a new kind of home decoration.
/HORST

A Short History Of The Comic Strip In Popular Culture XI

1. Raf Simons Fall/Winter 2013
2. Thomas Bayrle Feuer Im Welzen (Fire In The Wheat), 1970
3. Unknown
4. Raf Simons Fall/Winter 2013
5. Thomas Bayrle Edition Jake Wie Hose (Naked Lunch), 1970
6. Thomas Bayrle Feuer Im Welzen (Fire In The Wheat), 1970
7. Raf Simons Fall/Winter 2013
8. Thomas Bayrle Edition Jake Wie Hose (Naked Lunch), 1970

Investigating on the motif of 'naive repetition' and the typology of 'pixel pin-ups'. Reviewing: the suppressed eroticism of Raf Simons' intarsia knits in dialogue with Thomas Bayrle's nonchalant erotica. A lesson in 'neutralized sex' by the means of oversimplification/denial.
/HORST

Helmut Dialogues VII

Part IV of 'Duplicate Diptych Week'



1. Helmut Lang Spring/Summer 2001
2. Acne Pre-Fall 2013

In this case, the body-conscious 'original' is replaced by a free-spirited 'play' of volume. It may thus not be regarded as remake of a classic but its caberet adaption. The costume as tragic-comical tribute.
/HORST

A Short History Of The Comic Strip In Popular Culture IV

1. Yohji Yamamoto Spring/Summer 2009
2. Yohji Yamamoto Fall/Winter 1987
3. Yohji Yamamoto Spring/Summer 2004
4. Yohji Yamamoto Spring/Summer 2002
5. Yohji Yamamoto Fall/Winter 2007

The Yohji Yamamoto appreciation edition. Throughout the years, comic derivates re-appear within the menswear collections. Ranging from stylized hand silhouettes to Geisha portraits and pixelized computer characters. From poetic to rather ridiculous, they reflect a constant 'twinkle in the eye' as core of an aesthetic universe.
/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

Flower Power

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

In times like these, we all need a little optimism. Therefore, I am dedicating those flowers to N. May he finally take all the praise he deserves and found the very own and true 'Nicolas Ghèsquiere for Nicolas Ghèsquiere'.
/HORST

P.S.: I am not giving up on the 70s re-revival theme. Even the most radical/pessimist minimalist can accept some monochrome daisy print.

The Decorative Anti-Decorative

1. Pablo Picasso Vase deux anses hautes, 1953
2. Ancient pottery, Hohhot, China 500 B.C.
3. Ancient pottery, Japan, Dogu 3000-2000 B.C.

The archaic craft of pottery has recently developed a threatening strength amidst contemporary minimalism. A raw, unfinished and naive quality that makes it a strategically ugly intrudor in polished homes.
/HORST