October 5, 2016 |
The sight of several nude bods of an early evening is usually, in our eyes at least, the sign of a good night. That’s what greeted us at Kenzo’s SS17 show, painted bodies of all shapes and sizes, like human statues, dotted about the catwalk. On closer inspection, though, (well, as close as one could get without constituting some form of harassment) it became clear that some of the bodies had been warped somehow – a few stood on stilts, including a woman cradling a pregnant stomach, giving the illusion of height, another had a huge, emphasised lower half, and, for want of a better word, rear. Well, they remained in place as the catwalk show began, a collection that we shall call, simply: disco dressing. Shimmering, shiny disco – Carol Lim and Humberto Leon taking us all the way back to 1977 and to Studio 54, to when Kenzo Takada himself showed a collection on the dance floor and Jerry Hall walked, Grace Jones performed. Ah-mazing. Think: hundreds of sequinned embellishments, puff-sleeved blouses, prints made in collaboration with the archive of legendary fashion illustrator, Antonio Lopez. Ruffles and skirts in latex, kaftan-y dresses, a dash of lame. Let’s call it a homage to the women of disco. Women like Grace, Jerry, Pat Cleveland or Donna Jordan. Which means that obviously it was fabulous, and, of course, being either gay men or gay men trapped in women’s bodies, entirely enjoyable experience. Because really, how better to spend our last night in Paris that with a fuck-off party? We’re off for a drink.
Photograph by Jason Lloyd-Evans
