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Raf Simons Calvin Klein Debut and its Cultural Significance.

Raf Simons was appointed the Creative Director of Calvin Klein in August 2016. Since then the western world has seen the appointment and inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States of America and this has led to problems with the EU, Brexit trade deals as well as an immigration ban on seven Islamic countries. Yet, looking at Calvin Klein’s latest show in New York this past week; one of the most highly publicised runway shows in recent memory, it would suggest that a designer born in the home of the European Union is attempting to capture his vision of America and put it on the runway for one of the biggest American brands.

Raf Simons is a Belgian born designer; who rose to prominence with his line of tailored skinny suits in the early 2000’s and culture based shows like his now infamous ‘RIOT, RIOT, RIOT’ show in 2001, before going on to do highly sought after collaborations with the likes of Adidas and Fred Perry before taking the creative director role at Christian Dior. This has made Simons one of the most regarded and culturally significant Fashion Designers of our time and he is regularly captured socializing with the A-list who are outfitted in his limited collection pieces and inspired by his work. His resignation from Christian Dior was considered a shock by most and far earlier than expected. Yet the pull of New York and returning a fallen Calvin Klein to runway acclaim was not something to be ignored.

His first Calvin Klein show was amazingly reminiscent of what America is and what it means to Simons. Opening the show we heard calls of nostalgic American music before the show was opened by your stereotypical mid-west farmers daughter; this indicated where this show was going – an ode to America and how it has changed. The set was lined with American, Sterling Ruby’s art; that was meant to signify the oppression within US society and will now permanently hang in Calvin Klein’s New York offices. Yet, aside from the yearnful music and the culturally significant installations that surrounded them, the models demonstrated a confident American who rose up through this current outlook of America – a country that is looking backwards in sentiment while living through a period of adversity and subjugation of its people.

From a design perspective Simons did not ignore the Calvin Klein ethos; we saw amazing tailoring throughout; a Klein staple, yet a very wearable collection for the most part mixed with feather laden dresses covered in shrink wrap to almost display the models like they were figurines for display. There was a nice mix of accessible clothing (American Classics) with an underlying sense of surrealism that made the show feel like it was lost in time. Simons did this throughout the show and the small details really caught the eye (particularly the use of Brooke Shields iconic 1980 denim campaign as a denim label) as a way to pay homage to the Calvin Klein Simons grew up to.

Aside from the design, Simons really seemed to be pushing a culturally significant show, the calls of ‘This is not America’ at the start of the show to the use of classically American muses from all walks of society; the country girl, the business man, the Hollywood starlet: we seen it all. It was as much a uniting call as a runway show and from an outside perspective it really demonstrated the artist that Simons is becoming; one that doesn’t compromise on design and is willing to push an underlying significant message that he himself believes in and for this reason it is a stimulating time for Calvin Klein and US society.

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VETEMENTS, Balenciaga and the Meme Generation: The world through the eyes of Demna Gvasalia.

Demna Gvasalia, founder of VETEMENTS and Creative Director at Balenciaga is currently doing something special in fashion; putting the internet on the runway. Today’s pop culture revolves around social media and the ‘meme generation’, those who live their days on the internet browsing blogs and their social media profiles. Gvasalia has seen the opportunity in this and looking at his latest shows in Paris, for both brands, the influence of the internet is apparent and he has somehow managed to combine it with uncompromising design.

Gvasalia is not a newcomer to the fashion world, having led design teams at Maison Margiela and Louis Vuitton before starting up his own label, VETEMENTS in 2014. VETEMENTS is a streetwear brand geared towards creating ‘hype’ and Gvasalia does this in almost a way that mocks popular fashion culture. By releasing collaborations regularly with brands that are both culturally historic such as their recent collection with Dr. Martens and brands that are highly sought after by today’s youth such as Canadian Goose; VETEMENTS plays the part of linking the divides and cultural cliques we see in today’s youth culture and then reselling it back to them under one banner. We see this on Instagram everyday; people who wouldn’t normally socialise together due to their appearance are now linking and liking these collaborations. Gvasalia releases these collaborations almost as a ‘fuck you!’ to these social cliques – those who ostricise themselves from other groups cause they dress differently so therefore ‘we won’t get along with them’. This is not a new problem and has been around ever since the rise of youth culture in the 1950’s.

Yet in today’s world: internet blogs and social media sites such as Instagram and Pinterest have further increased the divide in youth groups; individuals who listen to a certain music dress a certain way (YEEZY Season for example) or those who associate themselves with a certain timeframe in history (Mods and Punks), or a certain culture (skaters) or even those who ‘street style’ - combining high street trends with hype brands and limited collections all fall under this cloud of a ‘meme generation’ without even being aware of it. VETEMENTS or ‘Clothing’ is an idea that recognizes this and puts them all under one banner and is essentially making a joke of modern popular culture; showing that in a world where everything is at our fingertips we still all fall under an overlying heading and are just trying to fit in.

Yet aside from their collaborations, which are aimed at uniting youth culture; VETEMENTS constructs runway shows that are aimed at embracing the ‘freaks’ of society: those who stand out to Gvasalia and don’t aim to be a part of the above mentioned ‘meme generation’ and how collectively through their ‘individuality’ create their own cultural sect which he then exhibits. VETEMENT’s shows use models that not conventional and are styled in a shabby way. Their designs are oversized and boxy to show how surreal these people are, and how if you saw similarly dressed people on the street you would be just as shocked as the critics that are sitting at the shows. Gvasalia seems to be inspired by these people, using ones who wouldn’t normally even get a second look from the majority of society or ones who would be deemed unfashionable as his muses because they don’t follow these internet trends or don’t connect to a certain cultural offshoot.

This same mentality is now being employed with Balenciaga; a couture brand that normally was associated with phenomenal design, amazing silhouettes and high standards. Gvasalia is creating collections for Balenciaga that are making social comments while pursuing the craftsmanship that is befitting of a couture brand. With his latest collection aimed at showcasing the corporate and office workers; those who go to their daily jobs and give little regard to their choice of work clothing or are not that concerned with looking ‘professional’ while working their 9-5 office number. The styling of the models demonstrates this and their attitude does too. They don’t seem to care and walk the runway as disillusioned as the people they are attempting to recreate. Gvasalia and his favoured stylist, Lotta Volkova do an excellent job at portraying this group of society and the shows have so far gained credibility due to this.

These two brands are ones that are currently held in high regard both by the fashion world and the ever growing ‘meme generation’ that are dressing themselves based off their preferred blogs and social media sites. I am interested to see how long this high standing lasts however; as like fashion, the internet is forever evolving and as ‘what’s in’  or ‘cool’ variates a lot sooner now than previously, how will the ideas of Demna Gvasalia evolve with this rapid change or will VETEMENTS and his Balenciaga become a mockery within themselves in the near future?