Clothing as emotional archeology. That’s how Hoor Al-Qasimi described her approach to the fall collection, a study in deconstructed tailoring to explore how fashion can be a carrier of one’s past and roots.
“This season, we’re looking at how a fabric can carry somebody’s memory or traces. [It’s about] this idea of people moving beyond borders. Where are you from? What do you take with you? And how many layers there are in terms of your history?” Al-Qasimi explained backstage.
The dimly-lit industrial venue was the stage for another installation by Dala Nasser, the Lebanese artist known for her use of different materials, including textiles, to celebrate her culture. Following last season’s scaffolding, she hung crinkled sheets of fabric from the ceiling like drying linens.
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Putting on pause almost entirely the brand’s utilitarian ethos, the first look – a softly pinstriped suit worn with a basic white shirt and low loafers – set the tone for the tailoring-derivative lineup in which archetypal tropes of the men’s wardrobe soon morphed into layered and soulful pieces.
Folds, drapes, jutting sheets of fabrics and blanket-sized textiles wrapped around the torso simultaneously telegraphed a sense of movement and weighting the body, as if suggesting that one’s memories are both a blessing and curse.
Cue the rust-colored zippered blazer with a built-in cape that lent it a rounded silhouette, paired with extra-wide legged dress pants, or the woolen jacket in a textured tapestry-like fabric and the military-nodding checkered coat with slashed sleeves, both coming with a built-in scarf worn as a head covering. Knitted cardigans were cinched at the waist by matching strips of fabrics and bias-placed half capes defined almost all blouses and tops, worn by male and female models alike.
The tactile fabrics – rubbed, softly distressed and washed, done in an earthy-toned color palette – conveyed a lived-in feel. Consider the sanded denim ensemble, frayed knits with loose strands of yarn, or windowpane check shirts and tops with burn holes and scorches worn with fluid balloon pants.
“Maybe fashion could be a place just like contemporary arts, or even performing arts, where stories can be told and memories could be enhanced?” Al-Qasimi mused.
