All the young dudes

If forward thinking fashion means models enlisted from the Internet, agencies will some become obsolete bar those for the supers. Vetements’ AW16 show took a crew from Instagram along with some familiar faces to model the looks. It’s about more than piquing the interest of the digital generation. Vetements is thoroughly young, it’s vital for that attitude to seep into every aspect of the brand for it to be more than a show note, a gimmick. Demna Gvasalia and his gang are unbuttoning the stiff collar of Parisian fashion at high speed, indicative of just how timely their arrival has been.

Taglines

At this point in the white hot limelight, Vetements’ clothes could have anything emblazoned across them and people would call it a stroke of genius. It just so happens that this season, they’d be right to say so. Tongue in cheek and always topical, we were shown a whole host of slogan street wear. “Justin4ever” read one hoody, Bieber’s another brand who’s revitalised his entire image and shaken off the tween pop shackles. “MAY THE BRIDGES I BURN LIGHT THE WAY” said another while “SEXUAL FANTASIES” lined a skirt. All throwaway statements, the changing thoughts of youth, but the decision to base a collection on these feelings and phrases is one that will serve Vetements well, commercially speaking, at least.

Outside the box

The collective appear to have been swept up in geometrics this season. Straight edged and cut apart, there was plenty of tailoring, of the distinctly non traditional kind, of course. Suit jackets in old-school checks and velvets were hunchback padded, their sleeves and legs crumpled with plaid shirt cuffs dangling down to the fingers. Still, it was that lurid purple, oversized MA-1 bomber with “DRINK FROM ME AND LIVE FOREVER” scrawled down the sleeve in a vampiric, gothic font that you’ll be seeing on street style mavens, alt-pop queens, and every zeitgeist rapper around next year. Suffice to say, the almighty Vetements wave shows no signs of crashing just yet.