High Society

When I first saw these images, my immediate response was to love them, however Repeated viewings had led to the following musings and interpretations of why I had this reaction. Firstly, taking the observers eye upwards elongates the fashion silhouette, how the creative team whisk our attention skywards is all part of the trompe l’oeil of illusion. These images perfectly demonstrate a sculptural refinement in achieving fashion ideal proportions.

Then there are the lace masks, in direct hommage to Martin Margiela the first designer to regularly blur or blank the models features, are curving around in smooth lines partially obscuring the face yet inviting us to look closer at the same time. The hair and accessories twirling around the models’ head like clouds, propellers, or wings, and the colours shifting from sweetly pale to darkly ominous all add to the fascination of this story.

We also see amongst the looks an almost Paul Poiret question mark of explosive lines, or the feathery enchantment off a ballet headdress, the hauteur of the models poise or the eccentric witticism of a barely balanced cornet like appendage. From solid rigid textures to almost topiary like surfaces and shapes we wonder at the teams’ skills and how they achieved these de orations and effects.

We glimpse waves of colour, powdery skin, softly touched lips, and the allure of sophistication. The model’s gaze is superior and confident, she knows how strong and fascinating she appears. This allure will make an entrance at a gallery opening, a premiere or an embassy ceremony. It is posh and aristocratic; it is heirloom and eccentric.

I begin to finally realise it is My Fair Lady with a twist, by mixing the edge of Comme de Garçons with Cecil Beaton, the past and craft with cutting edge modernity, it is brilliantly confusing in its beauty. So, gaze on these images and as I do, wonder how the creative team invented something that hovers on this strange timeline stretching across fashion decades. They are beautiful but also strange and marvellous which is why I love them, as I am sure you will do.

Words by Tony Glenville