Henrik Vibskov, the Danish designer who has been serving up art, music, and fashion for more that 20 years, is a sartorial foodie. Sausages, apple pie, and gelatin are among the foodstuffs that have appeared in his collections and films over the years. Having become fascinated with all things related to tomatoes, he headed back into the kitchen for fall. The designer explained that he likes his clothes to be a reflection on how we work, how we live, and that food and liquid hydration are essential to our survival.
What had the designer seeing red, as it were, was noticing many abandoned greenhouses, the casualties, perhaps, of global warming. In his own wonderful way, Vibskov went about imaginatively setting them right and filling them with pommes d’amour, or love apples, (so named because of their supposed aphrodisiac aspects). When it came to visualizing the theme, Vibksov said he wanted to take a relatively subtle approach, aside from one print inspired by vintage tomato can graphics.
Red and green were the main colors of the collection, but the pattern on the fringed material used for the long blazer that opened the show was abstracted, as were the tone-on-tone “shadow” tomatoes woven into a plaid. Some shoes had heels that looked like upside-down planting pots, and models wore headbands that evoked strings of cherry tomatoes. Gingham-trimmed trench coats and jackets, which were among the hero pieces, extended the theme by referencing picnic blankets and tablecloths. Texture was an important element as well; and took the form of Vibskov’s signature pleating, a spiky variant of a popcorn knit, and a charming checkerboard material with squares that were alternatively piled and clipped.
There was nothing flat about the show, however, with its attendants raising and lowering tomato trees. Vibskov’s intent was to create a “strong, dreamy world” that was also “weird s[and] surreal.” This is his happy place. The fall collection was christened Long Fingers To Ma Toes—get it?—and some models wore gloves stuffed to extend the fingers to alien-like lengths. Vibskov is an intellectual guy, but not everything needs to be deep; “I also really like garlic gazpacho,” he said.
