The Internet is a very dark place, and Demna Gvasalia is happy to poke his face into it, taking all of us on the ride, courtesy of his Vetements AW19 show.
“Warning!! What you are about to witness will disturb you. Even shock you. There is a dark side of humanity the censors won’t let you see… but we will. View at your own risk.”
The first look sent a clear message via a black turtle-neck printed with these exact words, reminiscent of those network pop-ups prohibiting us from illegally downloading the next episode of Rupaul’s Drag Race All Stars. But the kind of dark Internet Gvasalia had in mind was a bit more sinister than drag queens lip-syncing to Aretha Franklin. It was about what happens behind the curtains of the world, without us knowing. Rebellion, not only the physical kind seen on the streets of Paris right now, or even outside the venue of the show. It’s the world of dark Internet, transformed into purposely mismatched clothes that could easily be interpreted as cynical takes of the society we live in. But that would be too simple. Gvasalia creates by social experiment, whether he calls it that or not. His collections at Vetements are always slightly sinister, just like that friend of yours that can’t shut up about conspiracy theories and how the world is about to end. All that, but with truly fabulous clothes that we wanna wear. Floral dresses worn with black hoodies and balaclavas, oversized suiting, and great, great outerwear. And luckily, these can all be bought on the bright side of the Internet, in six months or so. That’s Vetements for you.
Photography By Jason Lloyd- Evans.
