It is not rare for fashion designers to take inspiration for a collection from events in the news. The plastic waste crisis is sadly a relevant theme, especially as we are realising plastic is not being recycled properly, but it is often shipped to developing nations, with dire consequences for the health of people and of the planet, while microplastics (plastic debris less than 5mm across) are common from the surface to the seafloor and may also be entering marine food webs in the deep ocean.
Plastic wasn't actually the main theme of Marni's menswear collection, showcased last week in Milan. Creative Director Francesco Risso moved indeed from a rather bizarre combination, an imaginary wedding between Truman Capote (as portrayed in a photo by Henri Cartier-Bresson View this photo) and Ernesto "Che" Guevara (in the iconic "Guerrillero Heroico" photograph by Alberto Díaz Gutiérrez, better known as Alberto Korda View this photo), but the set in Marni's industrial headquarters was directly inspired by the plastic waste crisis.
Plastic bottles and other assorted green, white and blue plastic relics (collected by the Italian fashion house team from industrial sources and the seaside) were suspended from the ceiling. The effect looked a bit like a representation of the Pacific Garbage Patch attached to the ceiling rather than floating.
The plastic set was also directly connected to a monumental installation by Paris-based Japanese artist Tadashi Kawamata that was on display until April in the Oval Gallery of Lisbon's Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT). As you may remember from a previous post, the installation consisted in a pile of plastic residues collected on Portugal's shores during beach cleaning campaigns.
A net suspended from the ceiling was filled with all sorts of ocean debris, from plastic bottles to polystyrene boxes, while two boats were abandoned on the floor of the main museum gallery, giving the impression they were submerged by this wave of trash. Visitors stepping into the gallery were confronted therefore by the aftermath of an ecological catastrophe, a seascape of waste, floating and engulfing civilisation.
The effect on Marni's runway was more or less the same, with fashionistas being required to stand rather than sit under the makeshift roof of plastic debris, a physical representation of the weight of plastic on our planet and our lives.
The clothes were suspended between elegant tailoring (see the three-piece suits) and camouflage functionality (see the army jackets and military jumpsuits for that jungle guerrilla twist): Risso imagined Capote abandoning high society to embrace radicalism and this dichotomic theme gave origin to the hybrid garments in this collection, designs that could be adapted for both men and women, as seen on the runway. The arty element in the collection was represented by the carnival of colours and graphics inspired by the Fauve painters.
The tropical theme provided wearable results when merged with camo patterns (the tailored garments with cut-out fabrics replicating the effects of camo netting and camo net blinds worked particularly well as the cut-out motifs looked like romantic flowers). Some of the models also donned bizarre totemic party hats made by the artist Shalva Nikvashvili stapling together (actually that's not a very sustainable technique...) discarded paper, feathers, plastic, fur and leather (there were also large stapled paper and leather bags).
Accessories also hinted at the state of our planet: Japanese artist Kazuma Nagai made brooches representing hybridic animals including the extinct dodo bird wearing a gas mask as if it had to face a nuclear emergency (a hint at Johan Renck's series "Chernobyl"?).
There was a final message behind the runway: the show was called Act 1 and tried to reshift the fashion discourse onto more sustainable practices; in Act 2, coming with the S/S 20 womenswear shows, artist Judith Hopf will use the plastic that was employed on this set to create a new artwork.
You wonder if it wouldn't be a better idea to use it to make jewellery pieces, after all Marni's statement accessories are mainly made with plastic, so this would add a sustainable twist to the brand's signature necklaces and bring some genuine changes. And while the show wasn't maybe a call to action, it made you think: fashion can't be 100% sustainable (would the fashion crowd ever accept to reduce their carbon footprints by choosing not to fly from one fashion capital to the next to see different collections?), but things can be still reversed if we act quickly.
Comments