On the Road with Hussein Chalayan

In his Spring/Summer 2009 collection Hussein Chalayan showed a fascination with cars, movement and speed.

For the new collection, entitled "Mirage", the designer took again the car theme and, stripping it of its negative and accident-related implications, linked it to a trip through the States.

The collection was therefore turned into a journey through different spaces (and sounds, thanks to a crackling radio broadcasting bits and pieces of weather reports, music and noises from far away frequencies) that started in New York with oversized mannish herringbone office jackets and coats worn with dusty grey denims and sneakers.

Clashes between urban wear and more conservative garments were provided by Pennsylvania with Amish-like straw bonnets worn with tailored jackets, while the destructive force of a tornado in Dallas gave the chance to the designer to experiment a little bit with a metallic grey pleated dress that wrapped around the body, culminating in a headdress that enveloped the model’s head.

Beauty pageant culture was evoked by the dresses with sparkling sashes; echoes of the uniforms of American football players hid in the (tarmac-like) silvery grey pleated silk shoulder details that decorated shirts and dresses; the vivid colours of Mexico exploded in the red and lilac ruffled knits, while explorer’s coats matched with binoculars and rain hats tried to recount the story of an adventurous trip to Utah.  

The theme of speed wasn’t missing: references were clear in the inky blue dresses with prints of busy highways that resembled Dante's nine circles of Hell or with a print of a single dashed white line and in the Swarovski crystal mesh dresses that seemed to reproduce the effects of headlights flashing on a dark freeway.

The spectacle of Chalayan's early shows was missing, but the theme behind the collection ensured there was a proper story to support it and give to it a sort of incoherent cohesion.

Besides, the collection allowed more philosophical fashion fans to sit down and ponder in which ways what we wear is influenced by the environment surrounding us, and how our garments shape our personality, identity, history and roles in society.

In a world of many landscapes, Chalayan told the story of many trends through many different women, from office types and explorers to young beauty queens and glamorous ladies in Hollywoodian gowns.

Maybe budgets restraints pushed Chalayan to abandon his forays into art, architecture and theatricality; maybe the designer, whose show opened with a tribute to the late hero of dark beauty Alexander McQueen, deemed inappropriate to put up a spectacular event now, just a few weeks after McQueen's death.

The over the top queen of showmanship Lady Gaga recently claimed that, affected by McQueen's fate, she may launch her own fashion collection (Heaven forbid…).

Chalayan seemed instead to suggest that this is the right time to take a solitary trip into the night and ponder a bit about life's quests, questions and mirages.

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