This season’s Fashion East proposals opened with a static presentation by Michael Stewart. The Irish designer created 11 evening dresses, which introduced him to his new audience with skillfulness and precision. Landscape and ancient cultures inspire me. The pieces come back to the body. He said in a preview that the dresses were a study in how the fabric responds to the body and that it was a reset button on what evening wear could be. Stewart is surrounded by standing stones and dolmens that have been around for a thousand years. I enjoy watching a body emerge from a set of hills. I like the idea of the people who lived in the lands for a long time. The simplicity and dramatic construction of his gowns made him feel completely confident. The focus is on silhouette and cut. I think we have a lot of images and there is a quiet power in what I propose. There is ornamentation, but there is not a lot of decoration.
The runway shows were held on the floor above the presentation. The body image she grew up with as part of a local Y2K culture is what inspired her work. The way I was raised in Brazil affected how I feel about my body now. Everybody was showing skin back then, and that was part of my daily life. The beauty standards there were very different from what I was used to. The idea of a Brazilian body shape is sold by people. “I’m trying to bring the realness.” She allowed her materials to highlight the shape of the body while curving decorative metal rings around parts of the body traditionally covered up. It would be too much of a buzzword to adequately express the talent and sensitivity that has gone into these dresses. She is also the real deal if she deals in realism.
As the final show in this season’s line-up, Jawara Alleyne had also come to the finish line of his Fashion East residency. He said he used the platform he had been given to develop a brand structure. How do we make sure that we go from here to the other side? He has carved out a distinct identity with his clothing and ways of wearing it. The idea of a pirate was something I was given as a child. Every year we have a pirate festival. The idea of pirates is a big part of the visual branding of the islands. A storyboard of a yacht crashing into a pirate ship is the basis of the collection. He fused that story with an “underground nightlife” idea of London dressing founded in punk, and ended up with a collection that felt like it was out of place. T-shirts made luxurious with handwork, beautifully draped evening dresses, and some terrific exploded tennis shoes were included within those very defined ideas.
The Vogue editors are at the shows.
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