FW16 MASTODON

MEN

CREDITS

MAKEUP: SAMMY MOURABIT
HAIR: DUFFY (STREETERS)
PRODUCTION: LA MODE EN IMAGES
MUSIC: ICY LAKE BY DAT OVEN (REMIXED BY JEFF JUDD)

NOTES

LAST SUMMER, MY BETTER HALF, HUN, INSTALLED BEEHIVES ON THE ROOF OF OUR HOUSE. IT’S NOT SOMETHING WE TALKED ABOUT BUT I COULD SEE SHE WAS INSTINCTIVELY RESPONDING TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES WE ALL FEEL. CHANGE CAN BE OMINOUS BUT ISN’T EVOLUTION INEVITABLE? DO WE REALLY EXPECT TO LIVE FOREVER? OR MIGHT WE GRACEFULLY GO THE WAY OF THE DINOSAUR…

OPENING A NEW STORE ON LA BREA AVE IN L.A. MADE ME REMEMBER THE LA BREA TAR PITS, PUTTING ME ON THIS TRAIN OF THOUGHT…

(THE LA BREA TAR PITS ARE A U.S. LANDMARK THAT HAVE PRESERVED THE BONES OF PREHISTORIC ANIMALS THAT WERE TRAPPED THERE THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO.)

BALANCING CONTROL AND COLLAPSE IS WHAT I’VE BUILT MY AESTHETIC ON— DISCIPLINE VS INDULGENCE, IMMORTALITY VS ITS DEFEAT, ARCHITECTURE VS WILDERNESS… I’VE BEEN ROMANTICIZING STRAIGHT LINES FOR A WHILE BUT HERE THEY’RE FRACTURED AND INCOMPLETE, LETTING AN ORGANIC ENERGY SEEP THROUGH, MOST OBVIOUSLY IN LUGUBRIOUSLY DRIPPING SPLASHES— MY VERSION OF PRIMORDIAL OOZE.

FASHION’S EVOLUTION HAS EXPRESSED IDEALS OF BEAUTY THROUGH EXAGGERATION LIKE STRETCH JEANS, STILETTOS, BUSTLES AND PANNIERS… I’VE USED VOLUME AT THE PELVIS TO CONSTRUCT THE EFFECT I THINK PANNIERS WERE INTENDED FOR— TO CREATE AN IMPOSING DISPLAY FOR THE LOWER HALF OF THE BODY; A FRAME SUSPENSEFULLY COVERED WITH A CURTAIN.

SHAPES IN THICK COTTON MOLESKINS AND WOOL SUITING ARE TIGHT AND CONTROLLED AT THE TOP, GRADUALLY EXPANDING AT THE HIPS TO DRAG AND MELT TREE TRUNK-LIKE INTO THE GROUND. SHEARLINGS ARE THE SIMPLEST OF SHAPES, OR TWISTED AND DRAPED INTO CASCADING BLOBS. BOMBERS ARE IN PIRARUCU— A BRAZILIAN ECO-FRIENDLY FISH HIDE WITH PREHISTORIC-LOOKING SCALES— AND PARKAS ARE CUT IN FALLING APART MOHAIR, OR BLACK SUBURBAN NYLON, TWISTED AND STRETCHED TO THE FLOOR. LOOKS ARE ANCHORED BY ADIDAS PRO MODEL SHELLTOES THAT HAVE BEEN PUMPED UP TO MASTODON LEVEL.

THE DINOSAURS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE LA BREA TAR PITS ARE ECHOED IN THE SOUNDTRACK’S REFRAIN ‘I JUST THOUGHT I’D CALL BEFORE I THROW MYSELF INTO THE ICY LAKE’ (FROM ‘ICY LAKE’, A MID-NINETIES VOGUING MASTERPIECE BY DAT OVEN).

THIS COLLECTION IS LABELED WITH A ONE-TIME-ONLY OWENSCORP LABEL THAT HAS BEEN DIPPED IN THE HONEY PRODUCED BY OUR BEES.

COME ON BABY, DON’T FEAR THE REAPER.

WOMEN

NOTES

‘SWANS REFLECTING ELEPHANTS’ IS THE NAME OF A SALVADOR DALI PAINTING AS WELL AS THE TITLE OF THE LOOPY AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF EDWARD JAMES, HIS BIGGEST PATRON. BUT IT’S ALSO A GREAT FEMINIZED SUBTITLE FOR THIS SEASON’S COLLECTION NAME, MASTODON.

FOR THE MEN’S COLLECTION, THE TITLE ‘MASTODON’ REFERRED TO A COLLECTIVE UNEASINESS REGARDING ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES AND HOW GRACEFULLY EMBRACING THE INEVITABLE END OF A CYCLE MIGHT BE THE NATURAL ORDER OF THINGS.

THE WOMEN’S COLLECTION CONTINUES THIS THEME OF EVOLUTION WITH SOFT ABSTRACTIONS FOLDING AROUND THE BODY IN A WAY THAT COULD REFLECT how WE MIGHT ONE DAY CALMLY FOLD INTO THE ETHER. LIKE IN A DALI PAINTING. ON AYAHUASCA.

THE PRIMORDIAL SPLASHES AND DRIPS THAT WERE MORE AGGRESSIVE IN THE MEN’S COLLECTION HAVE BEEN SWEETENED HERE IN THICK CUPCAKE FROSTING EMBROIDERIES RUNNING DOWN NARROWLY CUT COATS, WHILE OTHERS ARE GRAPHICALLY SLICED WITH FIELDS OF HAPHAZARD DRAPING.

THE SILK GAZARS FROM LAST SPRING HAVE BEEN INFUSED WITH WOOL TO CREATE FEATHER-LIGHT MERINO AND SILK MERINGUES. FLOATING FLANNELS AND MOHAIR CLOUDS ARE WRAPPED INTO ROBES AND TUNICS TO BE WORN OVER VELVET BOXERS-CUM-SKIRTS.

THIS COLLECTION FETISHIZES A CHALLENGING GREEN I CALL CASTAING AFTER THE LEGENDARY INTERIOR DECORATOR MADELEINE CASTAING. ALTHOUGH IT WAS A TURQUOISE BLUE SHE WAS KNOWN FOR, I LIKED THIS WEIRD GREEN SHE FREQUENTLY ACCENTED IT WITH. AND HER HABIT OF WEARING A WIG HELD ON WITH AN ELASTIC CHIN STRAP HAD A COULDN’T-CARE-LESS-IN-WANING-YEARS ATTITUDE WE COULD ALL TAKE TO HEART WHEN FACING ANY KIND OF DECLINE.

TUNICS WEIGHED DOWN WITH GILDED CHAINS ADD A NOTE OF PRIMITIVE GLITTER. WE’VE REISSUED OUR ADIDAS TECH RUNNER IN A THIGH-HIGH STRETCH LEATHER SOCK— A CROSS BETWEEN A SNEAKER AND AN OPERA GLOVE.

AS WITH THE MEN’S, THIS COLLECTION IS LABELED WITH A ONE-TIME-ONLY OWENSCORP LABEL THAT HAS BEEN DIPPED IN THE HONEY PRODUCED BY THE BEES MY BETTER HALF, HUN, IMPULSIVELY INSTALLED ON THE ROOF OF OUR HOUSE.

THE MUSIC IS AN EXCLUSIVE REMIX OF ‘SWOOP’, A MOOMBAHTON ANTHEM WITH UPLIFTING DELIRIOUSLY PSYCHEDELIC FLOURISHES, BY L.A. ARTISTS ETC!ETC! AND BRILLZ. PERFECT FOR PUTTING AN OPTIMISTIC FACE ON CHANGING TIMES

MY FAVORITE SALVADOR DALI QUOTE TO LIVE BY; ‘I DONT DO DRUGS, I AM DRUGS’.