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敬请期待中文版  Raf Simons' S/S 2017collection featured photographic prints by RobertMapplethorpe Picture credit: Raf Simons THE MANIC SCRIBBLES of a Jackson Pollock pattern on anecktie, photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe printed on Raf Simonsoutfits, and intense handwork from students at the Polimoda FashionSchool… Art is at the heart of fashion in Florence thisseason. Displayed in majestic Renaissance buildings or, in contrast, aderelict 20th-century train station or Fascist-erafactory, the shows had an urgency that was rooted in menswear, butencompassed the current fashion move for merged genders. Theresult? The presentations that surrounded Pitti Uomo,Florence's mighty menswear trade show, were much more powerful thanan appendage to the main act.  Raf Simonsapplies final checks to his models before sending them down therunway at his Spring/Summer 2017 show at Pitti Uomo Picture credit: RafSimons "Twenty years… I didn't tell anyone, but I wanted them [theclothes from the past] to be like fragments, looking like agathering of people," Raf explained,describing the vintage mannequins on the vast floor space where hisshow was held. He called them "puppets" and they appeared likeghostly figures under the iron scaffolding in the empty space thatwas once the Stazione Leopolda.  Aninstallation of vintage mannequins displayed pieces from the RafSimons archive Picture credit: @SuzyMenkesVogue So many mannequins had originally been intended for femaleclothing, so the result was to make Simons seem clairvoyant aboutmix-gender clothes in his early menswear collections.  Oversizecuts and asymmetry were key motifs of the S/S 2017collection Picture credit: Raf Simons The menswear for Spring/Summer 2017 could not haveseemed further from even Raf's most avant-garde offerings for Dior.The cuts were over-size, asymmetric, off-kilter and would oftenslip up off the shoulder to reveal a photographic print ofLaurie Anderson, David Bowie or Debby Harry as Blondie, butprimarily the work of Robert Mapplethorpe.  An ensemblewith a Laurie Anderson print Picture credit: Raf Simons These photographs also appeared at the side of the body or thehem of roomy shirts - perhaps a prequel of what Raf might bethinking in his rumoured new role as Creative Director at CalvinKlein.  AMapplethorpe print on an apron-front top Picture credit: Raf Simons Whatever the thought process, the show - with its electronicmusic from Jean-Michel Jarre and also the stately strings of HenryPurcell, re-worked in the 1980. The different musical experiencesboth suggested angst and urgency. Talking to Raf at the after-show dinner on a long refectorytable in one of Florence's hidden cloisters, I remembered hisearliest collections of boys as young as he was then; of his firsttime at Pitti eleven years ago, with the models striding downthe hillock in the Boboli Gardens. He is apowerful and thoughtful menswear designer. And that is what hedelivered in Florence.  Raf soaks upthe applause at the finale of his S/S 2017 show at PittiUomo Picture credit: Raf Simons Gosha Rubchinskiy: Truth of Youth The frightening, but compelling, video of "A Day in theDeath" of a post-Soviet young man seemed to summarise theinspiration of GoshaRubchinskiy, the Russian designer who seems to reflect thetruth of today's youth.  GoshaRubchinskiy referenced Eighties logos in his show, presented at anabandoned factory in Florence Picture credit: @SuzyMenkesVogue Hooked on football - expressed in references to tribes from thepast, such as the 1980s Fila logo - Gosha's message was clearlyexpressed before a single scarlet or yellow sweatshirt and joggersarrived on the circular, outdoor runway space.  Rubchinskiy'smodels were chosen from Instagram Picture credit: @SuzyMenkesVogue In front of the audience was an abandoned cigarette factory fromItaly's period of monumental Fascist architecture. Thissetting and the skinny teen "models" chosen from Instagram,increased the feeling of purposeful anger and even violence thatwas embedded in the video of an ugly Soviet world.  Rubchinskiycelebrates the street looks of Eastern Europe in the wake of theSoviet Union's collapse in the Nineties Picture credit: GoshaRubchinskiy Since the logos were mainly in Cyrillic lettering, I could notfathom, only feel, what was spelled out. But there were someclothes a step away from sportswear: suits and jackets, hanging onwirey bodies, as if borrowing outfits from an elder brother'scloset.  Picture credit: GoshaRubchinskiy Since Gosha's raw talent was spotted and supported byAdrian Joffe of Comme des Garçons and Dover StreetMarket, the Russian designer has built a cult following.And this strong show will only increase his power.  Adrian Joffeof Dover Street Market (left), with actress Renata Litvinova andGosha Rubchinskiy Picture credit: @SuzyMenkesVogue Fausto Puglisi: Unisex Gladiators  FaustoPuglisi's Spring/Summer 2017 show featured tough his'n'hers lookssoftened by floral fabrics Picture credit: @SuzyMenkesVogue Is the menswear world ready for FaustoPuglisi's world of seductive women with gladiator references?The designer believes so, and his colourful creations, competingwith body-covering tattoos, produced a unique his'n'hers look. In apresentation that had his women flicking their circular skirts andstretching their patterned leggings in the direction of males who,Fausto said, had been cast for the part from ex-convicts, theoutfits made a powerful statement. But too much of the show lookedlike costume, rather than credible male clothing.  Fausto'stattooed models resembled 21st-centurygladiators Picture credit: @SuzyMenkesVogue (责任编辑：admin) |