Wish You Were Here

Pink isn't a colour I usually associate with Alexander McQueen but it's pitch perfect in the Spring/Summer 2018 collection. It's a bit punk and a bit sordid and reminded me of a peignoir usually worn by a Madam.

In fact one of the look reminded me of the costume worn by Emily Lloyd all those year's ago (1984) in the scandalous film Wish You Were Here - which was loosely based on the life of Britain's best known madam, Cynthia Payne.  Coincidence?

How to Wear an American Quilt

One of America's monumental fashion brands, Calvin Klein is currently in the throes of a much needed facelift courtesy of the visionary Belgian designer Raf Simons.

Perhaps it takes an outsiders point of view to engineer something as inherently American as the Quilt in to the most covetable outerwear of the season. Whether it be as the liner to a badass parka or the tailored body of a winter coat.

At a time when the concept of what America means and what it means to be American is being questioned who doesn't want to wrap themselves in the safety of some honest, homespun fabric? Traditional quilts were painstakingly made by hand and passed from generation to generation, they told stories, they were given as gifts, they are cherished heirlooms.

I've been reading the book "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" by Sherman Alexie. It's made me cry and laugh but mainly he's given me a schooling on the collective and extended grief of a race.

Alexie is Coeur D'Alene/Spokane Indian and he lays bare his very complicated relationship with his late mother Lilian. Amongst many other things his mother made memory quilts, a skill that was introduced to the Native Americans by the Colonialists as they moved west and made themselves at home in another persons land.

From Katharine Hamnett to Pussy Riot, fashion as provocateur is not a new concept but to harness the timelessness of craft in this age of Twitter feels like a political statement. 

A memory quilt

Contains pieces of your past

Rejoined and renewed.

My mother made quilts.

She would sew instead of sleep

And rage at sunrise.

Excerpt from The Quilting by Sherman Alexie

 

photo credits:
David Sims / Vogue Sept 2017
Mariano Vivanco / Harpers Sept 2017
Zoe Ghertner / Vogue Sept 2017

Survival suits

I'm slightly obsessed with the inherent Englishness of Craig Green's collections and the romanticism in his clothes. They weave traditional menswear shapes and tailoring with a modern sense of urgency and perhaps a hint of our need to always be prepared for action (his previous season's collection was inspired by a Boy Scout's neck scarf).

Green's amazing Fall/Winter 2017 collection brought to mind the work of the artist Lucy Orta who presents the concept of an all too near future where our clothes may need to offer more substantial protection than would have previously been considered as we dress for survival on a planet where resources are limited.  It sounds hysterical, but have you read about the ice melt lately?

I love this collection's transition from the classic practical sea farer in his deep ocean navy blue to the squishy full body life jackets in a palette of soft pastels. The colours might be soft but the message is hard. Get ready, tides are rising, are you going to sink or swim?