Rocking Rebels and Rebellious Clowns: Undercover S/S 16

There are catwalk shows that inspire essays about art, life and beauty, and there are runways that spark up debates about a designer's main inspirations as seen in yesterday's post.

Then there are shows that may have a specific message, but, while looking at the clothes you realise you don't necessarily need to decode and analyse it in depth, as the garments are strong enough to bravely carry that message forward. That was the case with Undercover's S/S 16 collection.

Showcased during Paris Fashion Week at the Cirque d’Hiver, Jun Takahashi’s show featured models that looked like rebellious punk rockers, but donned the make up of clowns (recreated via sparkling elements and glittery lines).

By opting for this combination the designer seemed to be telling us that fashion is a ship of fools, an adventure and a mirage, but so is a circus. Besides, a circus doesn't have fixed bounds since it's itinerant, just like a ship of fool or the various fashion weeks.

Undercover's circus featured a series of desirable punk pieces ideal for a modern and intellectual rebel that seemed to create a continuity between military uniforms, Mod tailoring and the unruly spirit of clowns.

The collection opened with a series of checkered suits characterised by a narrow silhouette and matched with ruffled collars.

While the stovepipe trousers matched with buckled winklepicker boots remained, the jackets were little by little deconstructed.

Jun Takahashi's took indeed tailored jackets and coats and slashed them, then he proceeded to recombine them with backpacks.

Some jackets were literally transformed: their fronts were removed and turned into straps that barely covered the models' breasts, the backpacks instead morphed into jackets and were decorated with zip-up pockets borrowed from Hussar jackets (a reference to Jimi Hendrix's?) and uniforms.

Backpacks were also combined with bomber jackets and trench coats taking camouflage to the morphing level. In many ways, this collection could have been a sort of deconstruction disaster, instead everything looked quite desirable, especially the castle-shaped backpacks.

Further exercises in deconstruction were applied to the sleeves, detached from garments, reassembled and secured to the body with colorful ribbons.

Revolution was visible also in the exploding flowery prints that pointed towards floral bombs, while rebellious music entered the collection via miniskirts, pants and coats with the faces of The Rolling Stones framed in the playing card French suits (the Stones' "Salt of the Earth" was part of the runway soundtrack).

More hybridic looks combining rock, regal and royal inspirations appeared then on the runway, with Union Jack colours prevailing, even though there was also a Two Tone moment in occasional black and white checkered patterns and a hint at Renaissance in the silhouettes of the ample red and blue shirts worn under jackets and showcased towards the end of the show.

A feminine mood re-entered the collection at the very end, via pleated tulle skirts nipped at the waist by black biker leather belts and matched with men's suits to maintain the tough mood of the collection (strength will definitely be one of the themes of the next Spring/Summer season).

In a way the choice of a clown figure was almost obvious: clowns look funny, but they are also solemn and scary, they break sterotypes, they represent ambiguity and duality (and this fashion representation played with male/female aspects, combining them, but also mashed together accessories and tailored garments) and they are often used as anti-authoritarian and anti-establishment figures.

Yet, while Federico Fellini paid homage to clowns in his films, and often claimed he was scared they were destined to disappear under the feet of technological progress, Takahashi's doesn't have any utopian nostalgia for clowning, but for the irreverence this figure may inspire, something completely lacking in today's fashion industry.

The latter seems indeed all focused on praising as geniuses designers who have probably compiled their latest runway shows by buying things on vintage market stalls (Hedi Slimane at Saint Laurent?), while it should be refocusing its attention on those ones who are genuinely introducing wicked elements into tailoring.