February 22, 2024 |
Matty Bovan presented his AW24 ready-to-wear collection via a uniquely haunting Elizabethan-inspired film titled, Hello My Old Talismanic. Shot in the East Riding of Yorkshire’s Burton Agnes Hall, Bovan acts as the model for his daring 26-look collection, constructed almost entirely from tweed. Summoning the ghost of Katherine Anne Griffith – who died in the hall in 1620 and is rumoured to haunt the Queen’s state bedroom – as his muse, it’s shot with a fisheye lens by a collection of individuals including Bovan himself, his mother Plum Bovan, and PR mogul Mandi Lennard, viewers are transported through an eight and half minute-long display of historical splendour. With additional creative consulting from Katie Grand, there’s no doubt it was an avant-garde affair. Distilled throughout shots of a possessed Bovan, viewers are shown an original poem referencing an array of “geranium chopped botched”, “talcum dust”, and “santel burning charred wood” and other scent filled attractions. We hear a clash of classical music, radio signals, growling and buzzing, which raise the dormant hairs on our backs. It’s like a recreation of The Blair Witch Project… but make it fashion.
As per usual, this CSM MA Fashion Knitwear grad has pulled on every thread of his fashion imagination. As the collection unfolds, it begins with colourfully distressed tweed coats, undone knit pouring over the seams, glittering hair ornaments and translucent patterned tights courtesy of Taz Porter – a friend of Bovan’s currently studying a CSM. We grow to see paint-stroked skirts paired with feathered tops and intentionally botched cashmere scarves by Alex Beggs that are reworked by Kristy McDougall. Finishing off with a cerulean blue knit skirt, embroidered with a combination of colourful threads and a matching head cover, it’s clear that for Bovan, more is merrier. We can’t complain.
This is not the first time Bovan has referenced his attraction to the manor house. In 2021, Bovan collaborated with Rory Mullen and Adam Leach to create a fully immersive installation complete with video projections, live performances and sculptures within the Leeds room at the London Design Biennale at Somerset House. Titled, Just/Unjust, it was inspired by a carved wooden chimney piece depicting Hans Holbein’s Dance of Death that resides within The Red Drawing Room at Burton Agnes Hall. It seems that Bovan’s interest in the (supposedly) haunted Elizabethan estate hasn’t been exorcized just yet. We’re not sure we want it to.
Photography courtesy of Matty Bovan.
