Fashion is a game: despite those features telling us "how to" wear something (including something extremely easy to match like a pair of denim trousers and a hoodie...), nobody stops us from breaking the rules and subverting them, especially when we want to reinvent something that has been lying at the bottom of our wardrobe for decades.
But there are pieces that are particularly great to reinvent as the designer who created them added a simple yet clever detail or an element - a sort of convertible factor - to facilitate this reinvention or transformation.
A great example is a pretty powder pink tunic with a cherry branch print designed in the '80s by Cinzia Ruggeri. The dress featured two long cotton sashes attached to the shoulders: you could wrap them around the waist and come up with a functional day look or leave them long for a relaxed silhouette, ideal for an evening out or to entertain around the house or you could have come up with something more inventive. In brief, the dress was yours to play with.
Apart from the convertible factor, there was another idea that emerged in the '70s and that resurfaced every now and then to give consumers the possibility to mix and match designs - the foundation set. Bonnie Cashin's 1975 versatile Seven Easy Pieces turned a decade later into Donna Karan's Seven Easy Pieces, that generated in 2017 Misha Nonoo's Easy Eight and Wardrobe NYC's collection of essentials.
While the ever-changing trends in our frenetic lives push us to constantly crave for something new, our shopping frenzy is at times restrained by eco-friendly sensibilities that have taken root and by the reduced purchasing power. These reasons have stimulated a fresh interest in the convertible factor and the foundation set among some designers.
Peter Do actually turned to both of them in his A/W 23 collection: the designer came up with a lookbook featuring 351 looks, almost one look for each day of the year.
Yet he didn't actually make an outfit a day, but put together this fashion calendar with his own foundation set of more or less 20 pieces.
The images were therefore the results of long styling sessions in which Do and his team played with the convertible factor of his clothes to try and make the most out of a limited wardrobe. While this sounds like an ode to the now trending "quiet luxury" concept, Do is actually more interested in the notion of timelessness: quite a few of these designs, including the ribbed tops with cutouts on the back and the asymmetrical pleated skirts, were already part of his previous collections.
As customers loved them and bought them throughout the years, they became an integral part of the brand, wardrobe staples often characterized by a single stripe on the left arm (Peter Do's logo).
The collection was unveiled in April as Do skipped New York Fashion Week in February, even though market forces were in his favour: his front row was graced by the likes of couturier Ralph Rucci and his previous collections received positive reviews.
Besides, in the last three years Do has been a LVMH Prize finalist and nominee and shortlisted for both the Woolmark Prize and the CFDA Designer of the Year award in 2022. Yet dropping out allowed the designer to think over the presentation, edit the collection and come up with a more engaging concept for his fans and consumers.
Starting with solid rib knitted bodysuits, the lookbook ends with one-size-fits-all coats characterized by ample silhouettes, in between there are oversized wool blazers and knits made using Zegna Baruffa yarns (some of the pieces in this collection were actually part of the Woolmark competition), elongated belted trousers, versatile kilts and Do's signature pleated asymmetrical skirts integrating a long and a short skirt.
The convertible factor is at play in different garments to offer versatility and practicality: dickey-bibs in the lookbook are employed to transform crewnecks into turtlenecks; the zip-off hem of a leather coat can turn it into a wrap skirt, waistbands are flexible to fit varying hip sizes, shirts can be buttoned from the collar down to the hem, or alternatively, wrapped around the waist to create sculptural effects and black jackets and trench coats can be turned inside out and worn back to front.
The black and white palette is also a way to keep the focus on a restrained range of shades, while eliminating superfluous embellishments and prints that may not allow the wearer to play freely with shapes and silhouettes (minimal ornamentation like white marks replicating a tailor's basting stitches are the only concession).
Come September Do may be back on the New York or the Paris runways, but, in the meantime, his A/W 23 lookbook with his genderless designs could be turned into a fashion calendar or an art installation that, in our world in constant flux, may encourage people to reinvent and recreate what they have, transforming, adapting and evolving, rather than conforming to trends.
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