In a previous post I mentioned one of the S/S 13 yarns by the Gruppo Tessile Industriale; yet there was another one by the same company that I also saw during Pitti Filati and that took my fancy.
The yarn in question is inspired by aerospace stations and futuristic constructions such as the 1968 UFO-shaped elliptic reinforced plastic "Futuro House" by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen, ideal to be erected in the mountains or by the sea. The yarns in the Gruppo Industriale Tessile "Aerospace" selection are characterised by a series of green, silvery, blue and earthy shades.
Interestingly enough, some of the shades included in this palette, in particular those pale green tones with metallic reflections, were anticipated in Armani Privé’s Spring/Summer 2012 collection.
The collection seemed to be a variation on green, since it included different shades of this colour, from arboreal green to apple, lime, chartreuse and swamp, from pale to deep underwater with glimpses of venomous nuances.
Snakes were the main inspiration behind the collection: symbolised by the mesh fabric employed for fitted jackets and shirts that imitated reptilean scales and textures, they came back in the draped and asymmetrical waving effects creating movements on the silk organza skirts.
The latter were matched with peplum jackests with a nipped waist and pagoda shoulders, and all the looks were completed by Philip Treacy's headdresses coiling on the models’ heads (probably the only risible note in an otherwise rather serious collection…).
In some cases sequins and surface elaborations formed carapace-like structures around the body; overlapping strata of fabric, a trick used also in the evening gowns, simulated a snake shedding its skin, while crocodile jackets introduced one of the current fashion fads.
More snakes also appeared on the bag clasps and in the necklaces and bracelets that coiled around the models’ bodies.
Superficially looking at them, those digital prints of pythons and serpents called to mind scary Jameson's mambas coiling together in Guido Mocafico's "Serpens" series.
Yet the collection didn't just reference snakes, but seemed to be a study on strange mutating figures like the amphibious, green-eyed Sitauca in Albert Sánchez Piñol’s unsettling novel Cold Skin (in which case Armani has anticipated Xavier Gens’s film taken from the same novel that is currently being shot…)
Armani’s narrative behind this collection didn't indeed focus on snakes as biblical symbols of temptation, but on the theme of a mutating hybridic metamorphosis: shiny reptilean textures gave way to shiny liquid fabrics (already seen in previous Armani Privé collections inspired by the future and in particular in the S/S 2011 collection) that turned towards the end of the catwalk show into crystal-beaded gowns.
Besides, the green palette didn't strictly belong to the aquatic world of a dreamy mermaid or a delicate nymph, but to the mysterious algaed depths inhabited by amphibious creatures with creamy grey skin tinged with patches of green, the appetite of a monster and the sensual body of a fatal woman (think about Albert Sánchez Piñol’s Aneris and you get the idea…).
So if you fancy such shades, this season (and the next one if you consider the "Aerospace" yarn by Gruppo Tessile Industriale...) is definitely for you. But, if you think this greenish descent into hybridic bestiality is a bit too much, try to get inspired by the red-orange/fuchsia-violet shades of this promotional video for Suuronen's "Futuro House".
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