This was a tale of two collections — of the tough punk, and the Savile Row gent. Florentin Glémarec and Kévin Nompeix brought them together and gave them both a wardrobe full of power pieces for the social media generation, many of whom — they would argue — are suffering from online aggression.
The designers are big supporters of mental health for young people who are recovering from trauma and from cyberbullying, and later this year, they plan to create a capsule to raise money for Psycom, an organization that provides access to mental health counselling.
In the meantime, they used their fall collection to make a statement about the power of the body, and the mind, to heal from trauma.
That explains all of the flesh on show. At one point the designers pasted a clothing label to one model’s naked chest, treating the body like its very own power look.
Yet the fierce shoulders, which have been visited and revisited by designers and brands ranging from Elsa Schiaparelli to Thierry Mugler and Balenciaga, were the stars of this show.
They emerged from gray, softly draped suits with statement brooches, and from a sequin-slicked plaid jacket. A tailored check jumpsuit and belted jacket, both with Savile Row swagger, had them, as did the distressed denim jackets.
Other clothes were just as muscular — and in-your-face — from the edgy red and black vinyl coats and fetish-y fringed styles right down to the cowboy boots, which were made for walking — and for kicking butt.
A shrunken cableknit sweater in baby blue; a lineup of soft, flapping scarf tops layered under jackets, and floor-sweeping, tea-dyed jeans balanced out that power, and blunted the sharp edges of this often repetitive, but thought-provoking, collection.
