We all know fashion loves a high-brow concept. But often in their perusing of something abstract, there’s a tendency for designers to forget a key ingredient that makes a great fashion show: it should be fun!
Martine Rose knows how to throw a proper knees-up. Earlier this month, the beloved London designer invited friends, family and long term collaborators to an off-schedule fashion show that had all the warmth and infectious energy of a Vogue ball plucked from the 1980s. The audience whooped, wolf whistled and cheered as Rose’s eclectic cast peacocked down the catwalk with heavy fringed-beehives and hi-top fades. Shot on grainy VHS tape, it had all the bravado of one of Dick Jewell’s films of the Leigh Bowery-frequented club night, Kinky Gerlinky.
In Rose’s clothes, you have the power to be anyone. All to a soundtrack of Luther Vandross and Shalamer, models strutted in big-shouldered overcoats,, lime green co-ords and suave suiting worn with bolo ties. Throughout, Rose doubled down on her signature warped and wonderful tailoring. One blazer came in lemon yellow leather with an elasticated hemline to adopt the fit of a track jacket, whilst another knotted at the front like a karate robe. Elsewhere, draped woollen tunic tops walked alongside camo combats and muddy-coloured lurex pinstripe suits – all paired with swollen loafers and cartoonishly-large heels.
Last night, Rose decided to reprise the joyous show for a delighted fash pack in a surprise catwalk staged at Cuba Café in Paris’ 18th arrondissement, as the film shot in London was simultaneously beamed across public transport stations all over the world. While it’s the championing of her local community that makes Rose’s work so special, her impact reverberates globally.
Photography by Jason Lloyd Evans.
