A look from the Hodakova SS23 collection
The most surprising thing you hear today might be that the sauciest runway look during the recent Milan and Paris Fashion Weeks was a frock fabricated from tacky lingerie. Or maybe it won’t be—I don’t know your life.
What I do know is that the past two weeks of sartorial shenanigans very nearly broke me. And not often in a good, kitsch-driven commentative way.
Read the full take on Milan and Paris after the jump!
Let’s start with Milan, and take Paris Hilton and company’s turn on the Versace catwalk as an example of the ick. Purportedly meant to “smash wedding dress convention” with their desperate hoe-in-the-know vibe (aka self-aware sexiness), the satin version of these pointless pieces were also desperately wrinkled when they stiffly sashayed past onlookers.
As if, in the year 2022, something hasn’t been smashed a thousand times already, the heady whiff of the exhaust fumes of Y2K nostalgia are enough to wrinkle your nose here, too. Not even a generous dose of that sparkle filter can distract from how utterly needless this entire look is. However, this image *did* get over 336,766 likes, so maybe I’m wrong. But I doubt it?
Because I have seen with my own two eyes how to do sparkle / drama / viral moment / retro throwback in a way that doesn’t reek of a lack of imagination and pseudo-feminism.
For example, at the debut Avavav show where models amusingly tumbled under the weight of fashion week’s own ridiculous hauteur. See, you’ve gotta be in on the joke or you are the joke, ultimately…
I’ve written about Beate Karlsson’s brand here before, and I love the wink of blasé cheekiness and hallucinogenic humour in her work.
See also the offering from Hodakova, a Stockholm-based label that made its entrée into PFW with a selection steeped in upcycled whimsy with a nice dollop of repurposing savvy and material disorientation in the way of Martin Margiela, and Rei Kawakubo’s knack for proportion play.
This gown made from vintage letter envelopes gets an A-plus-plus from me.
As does Botter’s collection, which offered delectably wearable garments and was styled with what I can only assume is a mild form of aquatic kink?
What’s exciting is that friends I have who aren’t “fashun people” have DM’d me about this show—how irreverent yet important the subtleties were. Here is a brand having a conversation about sustainability that’s utterly unique.
On the other hand, I had people reaching out to ask me what the problem with fashion is?! And I do not have an answer. Because for all of the pleasurable and thoughtful moments, the final days of fashion month were mostly rich in cringe; the awfulness was so superfluous, it’s almost like the last two years hadn’t happened—let alone what’s transpired globally in the last month.
What’s stuck out to me most the past month is that what we wear feels like it’s sliding away from what we’ve long told ourselves and others—that it’s a creative reflection of self-expression—and more into extremely explicit signifiers for beliefs and behaviors.
The medium is the message, and ideologies and irony are in this season.
OMG, why not wear it? is our column for fashion lovers who are up for anything. It is an inspiration point, a place for dreaming, and a discussion of beauty, weirdness, and thought-provoking design moments as forms of connection. Written by Odessa Paloma Parker (@odessapaloma)
It’s great to see that Occupational Therapy is still a viable option in some psychiatric hospitals.