From world-centric principles of consumerism to the pulsating throbs of modernity, designers’ creativity nestles in a forward-thinking reality—where fashion echoes a tale of change.
PICKING up where his smart Fall collection left off, Simon Cracker’s SS25 lineup was focused on soulful, modernist tailoring and outerwear with a sportif sensibility.
“This collection is all about a matter of principles, because they’re something which serve to find a solution,” offered Simone Botte and Filippo Biraghi backstage before the show, explaining how their garments were about recounting what’s going on in the world without being overly explicit and political.
“Even though our brand focuses a lot on sustainability, it would be extremely irresponsible not to take a political stance on the global downturns happening both in our industry and the world at large,” they continued.
“The people who are part of the communications industry have the moral obligation to unfold a narrative of the issues that are going on, and we translated this concept through knots; our clothes have been created almost exclusively by knotting: flaps of fabric, drawstrings, strings and laces that simultaneously give a sense of union and ornamentation but also of constriction,” the designers said.
Adding how “knots are the abstract leitmotif this season, because they’re an element that can be undone but can also close the sartorial metaphor of the principles we stand for.” After the rich colours of the early deliveries, the collection shaded into more graphic territory—black, plum and washed-out blues that will be taking up for Summer.
But in a season of simplification, to what extremes can a designer’s shift be pushed?
For Martine Rose, the answer lies in the cracks and crevices of culture, unleashing expressions that are far-flung from the traditional canons of beauty. Au contraire: they looked to disturbance and humour for SS25.
Presented in Milan, the show staged a tension of sorts, juxtaposing mass-market and niche beauty with a curiously disturbing narrative. The season’s key elements fuel a confrontational look that’s epitomised by wigs and latex-coloured prosthetics that become silhouette-defining (questioning the conventional norms of beauty and the quotidian).
The lean, spare silhouettes of Rose’s suits—elongated jackets, high-waisted flared trousers and dishevelled hems—provided an opportunity to showcase the fine techniques that Rose specialises in: a raw, DIY sensibility is expressed in the patching of her garments; in string vests and hand-crafted shoe-laced constructions.
What’s more is the oddly seductive graphics materialise all-over garments in wax dye prints, celebrating a modernist eclecticism through an authentic vein.
The delicate skirts in cotton were feminine, almost to a fault. Grungy fashion and its influence have been grounded. Or maybe it’s nicer to think of them still out there somewhere, far removed from reality but appreciated from a wackier edge of formality.
by Chidozie Obasi