March 29, 2013 |
Slick. Dior Homme was slick. As in smooth and glossy. As in sleek. Like a baby seal. It was slick. From the hair, which was so shiny the light bounced off it, to the tailoring, which focused on the jacket, on what you can do with it. Each jacket came out in four different guises. Each segment would start with a classic jacket that then evolved into a new riff on it with each exit. Single breasted, double breasted, sleeveless, coat. With shiny silver buttons. The kind you would find on a military uniform. There was even a section of jackets made from nylon mesh, which showed off the construction of each. Slick. And navy. Worn with red. Or cream. The shoes, though, were even slicker. The colour of petroleum. An oil-slick blue. Which you may call navy but we will call “oil spill”, as spilled oil is slick. You could spend hours staring at the shoes. Getting lost in them. The same way you can spend hours staring at a puddle of oil in the rain. Getting lost in it. They weren’t patent or anything. That would be too obvious. Just polished to a high sheen so the light bounced. Played off them as the models walked. Mimicking their parted, slicked-back hair. The shoes were rather classic brogues. With brogueing across the top. Brogueing was originally conceived as a drainage device. It’s very wet in northern England. Who wants to walk around in a wet shoe? They had red laces. Bright red. And red stitching along the soles. Reflecting the colour palette of the clothes. The sole was black, reinforcing our petroleum-hue theme. And the laces had shiny silver ends that glinted in the light, just like the buttons on the jackets did. Attention to detail is slick. The shoes shined. Shone, even. We were so mesmerised by them we kept forgetting to look at the clothes. We were hypnotised. In the same way we get hypnotised by a baby seal. These were shiny like a baby seal is shiny. These were slick. Slick shoes.
by Natalie Dembinska
