Y/Project marvels with ultra-inventive collection
Deconstruction, reversibility, decomposability, versatility: such were some of the key themes explored by Glenn Martens, in creating a complete men's -- and unisex --collection, with multi-purpose and comfortable clothing that lended itself to all sorts of possible interpretations.
With the autumn/winter 2018-19 collection presented on Wednesday in Paris, the 35-year-old Flemish designer, and winner of the 2017 ANDAM award with his Y/Project label, showcased the full measure of his inventiveness by questioning the codes of dressing today.
"I asked myself: what do you do with clothing? How do you endorse it? How do you appropriate it?" explained Martens backstage, who has evidently been working on the concept of 'double'.
The collection form Y/Project was composed of double-collared shirts, bi-style belts (studded leather on the right and black crocodile on the left), as well as different clothes changing from the front to the back.
A sweater, worn close to the body in grey tones at the front, transformed itself at the back into a twisted and loose khaki jumper, a blue knit in a grey shirt. It was the same principle for the traditional woodcutter black-and-red shirt, with small checks on the front and larger ones of the back.
In the same way, Martens crafted 'couple' pieces, for example a jacket in jeans coupled with a t-shirt. Elsewhere, a red jacket came coupled with a windbreaker in the same cherry nylon, a leather gilet was superimposed on a double sweater.
The fur lining of a coat escaped from underneath and found itself wrapped around the neck.
The inside of pieces, the hidden side, did not fail to inspire Martens either, with perfectly classic-looking coats and jackets suddenly revealing the interior of the coat with seams and lining laid bare.
Elsewhere, rolled-up jeans revealed a fur lining, which acted as a second pair of pants.
And the designer had fun with trompe-l'oeil constructions: the side of a pair of jeans stretched over the front, and creases giving off the impression of a leather jacket and a sweater split in two.
Overall, the collection played on the notion of 'multiplication'. Both the garment and its use. As stated by the designer: "You have two coats and two jackets in one. It's a mix of pieces. You never really know where the first body starts and where the second finishes, you have to define it yourself, choose how you want to wear the clothes."
This 'multiples' design element was found in boots too, models appearing to have donned three inside one another, or in jeans with multiple edges. Lastly, the collection included the designer's typical snug pants, also transforming the famous Ugg fur-lined boots, which went to the top of the thigh, like huge boots, much like those of the seven-leagues.
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