Gold is slowly emerging as a trend for the next S/S 23 season: after materializing in the metallic crochet-knit designs on Proenza Schouler’s runway at New York Fashion Week, the bright shade reappeared in Gabriela Hearst's show.
The latter opened with a series of golden leather bustiers that pointed at Claude Lalanne's sculptures for Yves Saint Laurent's Haute Couture A/W 1969 collection.
But, while Lalanne’s pieces, as you may remember from a previous post, were plaster molds of Veruschka's breasts, torso and belly covered in galvanized copper and incorporated then in two dresses, here, rather than opting for wearable sculptures, Hearst turned nappa into soft breastplates. These armors still had a feminine flair as ruffled edges extended laterally or formed peplums around the waist (a trick that can be reproduced if you have a random piece of later and a good sewing machine or a few automatic buttons).
Gold bars were then used to decorate the lapels of jackets of chic black or white pantsuits or as decorative motifs on coats and nappa bags.
At times, gold appeared as a circle, almost a sun, on a white and black dress or top to create a basic geometrical arty motif on a sleeve, or was used in details, going from the folds of the accordion-like "Diana" bags to the prosthetic legs of double amputee and toxic shock syndrome survivor Lauren Wasser.
For fashion fans who love tactile elements, there were also three-dimensional gold thread embroideries on an ivory dress and a tailored suit and a super light and sensual silk ladder stitch knit dress.
The collection also featured Hearst's signature knitted pieces: the Uruguayan-American designer has made an effort since she launched her label to highlight the importance of handicrafts through knit or woven designs and her S/S 23 collection featured dresses and tops with ribbed sections or with crocheted segments around the bust.
Some of them, especially the ones with orange swirls, added a festival chic touch to a collection that otherwise featured quite a few designs for modern red carpet goddesses.
While gold was one the protagonists of this collection, it would be reductive to think it was just a vibrantly trendy shade for Hearst, who actually used it to hint at other themes.
The runway was lined with members of the Resistance National Revival Chorus singing "This Joy," a gospel song written by Pastor Shirley Caesar, and gold served to highlight the feeling of joy that we all need in our lives but that too often turns into something elusive and fleeting.
Besides, gold was a reference to poetry and in particular to Sappho: the classic Greek poet often employed the word "gold" in her works. You can easily spot in fragments of her works lines about nectar being drunk in "golden cups" or a beautiful daughter compared to "a golden flower".
Sappho also employed a key expression "χρύσω χρυσοτέρα" which literally means "more golden than gold", a hyperbolical phrase that could be easily applied to this collection. Sappho's hyperbole is based on an impossibility (how can something be golden than gold?) that ends up giving this expression elegance and charm, two terms that could easily be applied to some of the designs in Hearst collection including a gold ribbed knit tunic with a matching poncho knotted on a shoulder, recreating the fashion of ancient Greek times and evoking the himation and the chlamys.
Last but not least, there was also another metaphorical meaning behind the gold, a shade often associated with divinity. Hearst invited on the runway a diverse cast of women, from former president of Planned Parenthood Cecile Richards, author of the memoir/feminist manifesto "Make Trouble", to Mexican climate activist and a member of the indigenous Otomi-Toltec nation Xiye Bastida, author Roda Ahmed and anti-toxic shock syndrome (TSS) advocate Lauren Wasser. They represented an army of successful strong women, modern goddesses who use fashion to feel empowered, rather than to merely look trendy.
Comments