September 13, 2023 |
Glamour of the pre-historic kind was on the menu at Area, as designer Piotrek Panszczyk peppered his blinged-out wardrobe – favoured by the likes of Beyoncé and Cardi B – with a primal edge. After last season’s venture into fashion’s fruit bowl, this time around Panszczyk penned his collection as an “evolution through fashion history”, looking to how materials like bones and fur, used initially by cavemen as modes of survival, have become, in more contemporary times, symbols of wealth and status.
Held inside the decadent halls of what was once the Williamsburg Savings Bank, out came a procession of fuzzy lime green and glistening pink halter neck frocks with bedazzled bones at the neck; catsuits and fierce tailoring with jewel-laced claw marks decorating the body; and stone-encrusted headpieces so decedent they could’ve been the central plot line of an Indiana Jones movie.
The collection’s crown jewel, though, was Panszczyk’s clever imagining of trompe l’oeil fur, seen across skimpy denim co-ords and opulent floor-sweeping coats. The designer photocopied vintage fur pelts to create a pastiche of the real thing so believable, you had to do a double take. Giving The Flintstones, if only they’d worn couture, the show shaped up to be a true standout of the week.
Photography courtesy of Area.
