Nothing marks more eloquently the end of summer than the sight of a deserted beach. The joyful voices of children playing in the waves, once resonating in the salty air, have now vanished.
A lone stranded barrel jellyfish, heavy with seawater and stripped of its ethereal qualities, has washed ashore, its beauty still intact, its frilly tentacles unfurling beneath its purple-edged umbrella that, white and blueish, shimmers under the September sun.
If you work in the fashion industry, you can extend summer throughout September and the first week of October. Well, you don't actually extend it, but you immerse yourself into the upcoming one as these weeks are dedicated to the Spring/Summer shows for the following year.
On Sunday afternoon, for example, Jason Wu brought on the New York Fashion Week runways some underwater seascapes: jellyfish and octopuses appeared on coats and dresses characterised by a black, red or green print in the style of 19th-century etchings. In some cases, the motifs were replicated as sequined embroideries.
Models sported wet, wavy hairstyles reminiscent of mermaids. Amidst prints of seascapes, flowers, and plants, Wu also integrated a portrait of the first Chinese Hollywood movie star, Anna May Wong.
Leather dresses offered an alternative, even though the fitted bodices and full skirts had hints of Alexander McQueen by Sarah Burton (who, as announced yesterday by Kering, will leave the fashion house after two decades).
As a whole, the collection revolved around American sportswear, and featured quite a few ivory and military green designs, including long dresses and separates, made with hand-distressed fabrics and featuring unfinished edges.
Hand-shredded textiles and thready tweed tops evoked decay, scraped paint, and worn-out walls. The ripped fabrics weren't the result of a punk gesture, though, but pointed more at clothes you may be wearing in the aftermath of an apocalypse.
This section of the collection was indeed a departure from embellished eveningwear, an exploration of imperfections and versatile clothes. Flat platform sandals, as seen in other designers' collections in previous seasons, such as Gabriela Hearst, emphasized dynamism and ease.
The green designs didn't necessarily evoke uniforms but hinted at the consistency of algae, at Scheele's Green (the yellow-green poison pigment of the 19th century), and invasive toxic fungi.
This reference in particular alluded to the HBO drama "The Last of Us" - the tall grass along the runway also seemed directly taken from the scenes in which characters move around urban spaces partially reclaimed by nature.
Adapted from developer Naughty Dog's acclaimed eponymous video game from 2013, the series, taking place in a dystopian 2023, portrays a society devastated by a pandemic induced by the "cordyceps" fungus that transforms its victims into aggressive, zombie-like beings solely driven to propagate the contagion.
Yet, beyond the apocalypse portrayed in the series, Wu drew attention to another endangered species: independent designers, many of whom are struggling with debts and corporate takeovers.
The evening segment of the collection continued the underwater theme with feminine denim designs and seaweed-like ruffles and transparent layers on bias-cut fluid slip dresses that moved like floating jellyfish.
The show's location, Isamu Noguchi's Japanese Sunken Garden at the Chase Manhattan Bank Building in the Financial District, had architectural significance.
Built in the early '60s, the garden was private and people could only admire it looking down from street level. But the show took place in the basement, at garden level, behind a glass wall (on his Instagram account Wu posted an aerial view of the garden that, from above, resembles a petri dish).
The collection was accompanied by an Artificial Intelligence-generated underwater film, a collaboration between the designer and artist Matthieu Grambert.
You may prefer seeing a real Rhizostoma pulmo blissfully floating in the sea, rather than an AI generated jellyfish swimming around alien-like algae, but, one thing is certain, you can bet that we will spot other Artificial Intelligence interventions on further collections in the next few weeks as the technology is gradually becoming a prominent collaborator in the creative world.
If you abhor the idea, use this collection to contemplate the themes behind "The Last of Us" and maybe wonder who will prevail in a dystopian future - humanity or machines?
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