February 17, 2018 |
Matty Bovan isn’t holding back. He’s been up in his mother’s garden shed working on his first solo show after three collections with Fashion East. We picture him, mad scientist style creating away under the bright light of the moon. Dramatic. He is thinking big and doing it big. Quite literally – the girls wore Victorian alien-esque headpieces designs by Stephen Jones, made from balloons wrapped in tulle, well why not, almost whipping the girls up off their feet. Where were they flying? Across the North Yorkshire Moors at dusk. It all started there, a wistful Matty in his car thinking about romance and isolation.
And so the collection was rich in earthiness and thick, chunky tweeds, unravelling at the edge, made flattering nipped in at the waist. Wild at night. We imagine Kate Bush wailing in the wind, Wuthering Heights. Super chunky woven knits, in collaboration with Wool and the Gang, were a bit punk in their undone genius, tulle bringing the romance. Graceful but tough. A little bit Leigh Bowery. Adwoa Aboah opened the show, the dream Matty Bovan girl. Girls who stand for something. Bovan is part of the new gen consciousness, thoughtful about what he’s pumping out – or not. He dismisses mass production and consumption, less is more. As part of the collaboration, Wool and the Gang will be releasing a special knit kit. DIY Matty already. We’re in.
Photographs by Jason Lloyd Evans
