Men’s Fashion Week

By far, our favorite collection from the Men’s Fashion 2012-2013 Winter Wear shows is Belgian designer Walter Van Beirendonck. Since his days at the Royal Arts Academy, in Antwerp, Beirendonck has been known to use unusual color combinations and strong graphic influences in his collections, pulling strongly from visual arts, literature and nature, but this year the man has outdone himself.

We are not fully sure if it pours out of an urgent necessity to cheer the world up, but the colors in Beirendonck’s collection are pleasantly abundant, vivid and loudly signaling to the world that we need to perk up and start enjoying some of our deepest desires.

Entitled “Lust Never Sleeps,” Beirendonck livened up fashion week with a mixture of bright pink, reds and purples, wrapped up in his usual cringe bending subtext of lust, fetishes and a hit of cynicism.

Models wore a rendition of masks resembling those of warriors in New Guinea, or tribal medicine men in Africa, fused with the kind of Western fetish leather wear often associated with subcultural pornography and sex clubs across Europe and North America.

A cast of mostly African models walked down the runway wearing these Elastoplast pink masks and gloves, which some considered was a parody of Caucasian skin adding to the collection’s controversial theme. Tim Blanks, of style.com, went so far to say that “it was hard to resist the idea that his sleekly civilized tailored suits were also a mask for a whole repertoire of beastly impulses.”

Unfortunately, the general focus may have been a little too much on the theme of the collection, which should have not surprised anyone who closely follows fashion considering Beirendonck’s reputation, and not enough on the tailored suits and joyous colors that pushed the envelope on the mundane and “acceptable” everyday wear.

What society calls for today is for fun, lively images and beautifully tailored pants, shirts and the unusual accessories that make us dream and inspires fantasies in our own forms. Bravo to Walter Van Beirendonck for answering the call.

Bookmark Gloobbi
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