Hussein Chalayan’s collections are always one of my most-looked forward to. He’s one of the few designers that can seamlessly blend art, fabric technologies, and fashion into one garment and this season was, of course, no different.
I wish I had been able to make it to show to see how the designer’s garments actually moved in person, because from having gone to his Spring/Summer 2009 ‘Inertia’ show, I know that there’s nothing like seeing his clothes in action to appreciate all the thought and research that goes into Chalayan’s fabric choices and innovations.
Chalayan’s Fall/Winter 2009 collection was titled “Earthbound” and was inspired by garment construction and construction sites and so, unsurprisingly, the collection was mostly about structured tailoring (which made for a particularly covetable cocoon coat and blazers!).
The runway show began with an outfit made of acetate foam that was made to mimic gray concrete and continued – more literally – with prints of bricks, scaffolding, fences, architectural plans, soil, gravel, and manhole covers.
As for the garment construction, inspiration was seen via a number of space-age-like, curve hugging looks that revealed every nuance of the model’s body wearing that particular look, sometimes accented with angular details.
This season Chalayan revealed a rather sexy collection that, in addition to uber-fitted tops that often gave the models breast geometric, almost robot-like qualities, there were short skirts, plunging necklines, and nearly thigh-high boots with garter-like details.
Only Chalayan could mix geology with such high-brow intellect and create covetable looks that go beyond purely conceptual.
Images courtesy of the Fashion Spot forums.
