Singapore - As the closing show of Audi Fashion Week 2013, no other designer could have been better than British fashion legend Hussein Chalayan, whose Autumn Winter 2013-14 collection caused the crowd to break into spontaneous applause.
Hussein Chalayan MBE, has to be one of the most innovative fashion designers now alive; he has created "clothes" that are a coffee table that turns into a wooden skirt, an entire collection made of envelope paper, a series of laser LED dresses, and most famously, "robodresses" that flipped through the history of women's dress in minutes.
While his Autumn Winter 2013-14 collection for Chalayan - the designer's "alternative luxury" line - doesn't light up or reconfigure itself, it does include "convertible" dresses that are so perfectly constructed that the viewer has no inkling that it's anything more than a fabulously shaped and fitted mini; until the wearer pulls a "string" that is.
More importantly, his collection contained any number of beautiful, wearable pieces. From the opening looks of high-collared, long coats over wide-legged "jeans" with almost knee-high cuffs and "skinny jeans" with multiple "wrinkles" to beautiful simple shift dresses of jewel-toned ikat-like silk and elegant, long silk dresses with overlaid "aprons" to the perfect oversized rib-knit jumper and full skater skirt or slim-cut, narrow cropped leather jacket, or the perfect white shirt and the perfect futurist take on the grey marl pullover - there was a piece for every occasion.
Added to the Chalayan twisted version of urban basics was a series of beautiful, elegant dresses and gowns in combinations of silk and leather, silk with felted wool and the amazing "convertible" pieces that morphed from colourful, short shift dresses into monastic, long black gowns, or tops that arrived on the runway with a ruched, cowl neck only to transform into long, asymetrical tunics.
The jewel tone prints based on graphic images of dripping paint, somehow managed to impart a sense of futuristic woven ikat; if it's possible to describe a print as minimal, this would be it.
From monochrome smoothness via colour and movement, the collection finished with a series of pieces encrusted with what appeared to be stiff, three-dimensional "petals" in a pink-nude that rustled as the models strode down the runway.
The texture was described by Style.com as being reminiscent of peeling paint, and while that idea fits with the dripping paint digitised on the big sceens flanking the runway, in reality the affect was much more feminine and practically pretty.
When the wearability of the opening looks is combined with the sense of showmanship and technical knowledge that Chalayan displays in his innovative use of materials, you have practically the perfect fashion show; covetable items you want to buy and a bit of theatricality and innovation to make you think.
Chalayan's designs are strong, futurist and for AW13-14 carry a bit of tomboy style mixed with minimal, yet elegant femininity.
The fact that the designer described as "fashion's arch-conceptualist" by Style.com chose to work with seemingly ordinary pieces of clothing - jeans, biker jacket, sweatshirt - could been seen as statement about the importance of sales in a dull market, however in the hands of Chalayan it seemed more about his awareness of just how much the high end of fashion has been influence by the street.
In an interview backstage after the show, the designer discussed the impact of fast fashion and "casual fashion" on how people now dress, saying that because there are so many more brands available, some at very low prices, this has also affected the "aesthetic of how people wear clothes".
"They (shoppers) mix everything up now … high street, vintage, just old, luxury labels; it's all mixed together to form a new way of dressing," explained Chalayan.
This new way of dressing is particularly strong with younger consumers, says Chalayan, and he also remarked that Asia had always been a strong market for his brand, despite - or perhaps, because of its avant-garde slant.
"The Japanese, for example, are very fashion oriented, they like the 'new'; Japan was the first to buy my collection after Browns in London.
In the Asian market we've sold well for a long time. In Singapore we're in Tangs, Ambush and other places. Coming here [to Singapore] I was very happy to be able to meet them and support them; and so pleased with how they treat our brand."
Wearability is not exactly foreign to the designer, again despite his reputation for extreme fashion, Chalayan has been a major influence on the development of sportswear in more a lifestyle choice than being used for pure performance reasons.
His five year contract with Puma to develop the Urban Mobility sub-brand and Puma Black label led to the creation of cult classics like the Urban Swift sneaker that takes a ubiquitous item and transforms it into something akin to a piece of wearable art; that you can still run for the bus in.
"I'd worked as creative director for other brands like TSE before but working with Puma was completely different; it's the opposite of my brand so when designing for them I had use more of my 'technology head'.
Of course, it was about performance as well, but performance and lifestyle … and I also wanted to bring in a kind of taste level to the brand," explained Chalayan.
Unfortunately for those of us addicted to the brand, Chalayan's five year contract with Puma has now ended; this year's designs will be the last, so if you're a fan, better buy up now.
When it was pointed out that this would be very disappointing for his fans who couldn't manage to afford his main line, the designer smiled and replied that actually, "we're making some changes to the brand … there will be an 'entry', a 'middle' and a 'high' price point, so it will be much more affordable."
The new concept of affordability will come into play with the Spring Summer 2014 collections, which is fabulous news for fans of this designer; his ability to create clothes, shoes and accessories that convey a clear sense of moving forward, of focusing on the future, where fashion could go, and not on the past that's already been picked over countless times makes Chalayan one of the most important fashion designers working today.
After all, without creators like him, we'd be forever stuck wearing the same old thing, and who wants that?
Photos: Plush, Thomas Tan
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