For his first runway show, Benjamin Benmoyal wanted to share his passion for weaving — first by sending out specially made toy hand looms to his 300 guests, a feat that took six months to prepare.
His collection was no less ambitious. It involved the development of 60 different fabrics (previous offerings involved five or six different bespoke textiles). “I wanted to push the craft element to the maximum, but it’s an industrial craft, because we can manufacture and commercialize these fabrics,” he said backstage before the show.
On the runway, many of his voluminous, boxy designs sported the familiar stripes he made his name with, crafting his fabrics from repurposed audio and video cassettes. These contrasted with striking floral jacquards and tweeds, several evolving into a frenzy of colorful fringing, evoking the Berber rugs of Morocco in reference to Benmoyal’s heritage and a source of significant inspiration.
From cassette tapes, he wove an innovative snakeskin-like fabric with a glittery sheen, offered as a burnished orange pantsuit suggestive of its past life in music, or in black or silver on a number of looks, many with wide pants worn under either chunky textured coats or spaghetti strap buttoned dresses with flowing chiffon skirts.
His were total looks, as he pushed his passion to the limit. “I thought a lot about my tutor at Central Saint Martins, who pushed us to develop our obsessions, and my obsession is weaving,” said Benmoyal.
A collaboration with Dr. Martens made for footwear options to match each look, while giant round headpieces were made from hoops radiating with threads. That brought his vibrant, festive collection, much of which had a disco feel, full circle. The final look, a giant double-hoop dress with a skirt of hundreds of strands of thread, was a reprise from his graduate collection.
