June 20, 2017 |
There’s something of the watersports to this. Wetsuits and the like. Body-clinging scuba tops that zipped all the way down the front, a couple of gold lame bodysuits, foamy velcro sandals. Which, admittedly, all sounds quite beach party. But it wasn’t that, though the release did mention surf culture. I want to say that it was dystopic, but it’s not necessarily that either, more that the collection had something darkly futuristic about it, compounded with a strange, simmering sexuality. I mean, a wetsuit is an entirely perverse garment. Don’t you have to wee in it to keep warm or something?
And that warped futurism ran through the collection – strange hoods that pulled tightly over the model’s heads or leggings that sat under shorts, slick to the body. Totally sheer bras and matching cut-off tights. Plenty of end-of-the-world utilitarian flourishes – like a take on the military uniform, here wide in the leg and cinched at the waist with a webbing belt. Of course there was plenty of sportswear too, that’s Palm Angels’ raison d’être – this 90s-tinged take on active wear – joggers in vivid blocks of colour, puffy nylon dresses that were drawn in at the hem with toggles and to finish, tracksuits for everyone, in just about every hue. The kids are going to go wild for this stuff. And with that – over-and-out from Milan…
Photographs by Jason Lloyd-Evans
