For spring 2007, Hussein Chalayan managed to turn one of his typically complex concepts into some appealingly real clothes. His collection was untitled this time, perhaps because no single phrase could do justice to the genesis of these garments, which was apparently some all-encompassing research into the evolution of fashion over the past century.
What that meant in practice was a range of iconic items reevaluated, even recombined. A biker jacket was fused with a baseball jacket, and the resulting mutant, made up in navy gabardine, looked like the perfect blouson. A sweatshirt was given the sleeves of a business shirt. Another shirt had a little watch pocket, like a jacket does.
Technology inserted itself as latex strips on the arm of a white T-shirt, or as a dip for the hem of organic Japanese denims, or as a trim on a trenchcoat. Though not necessarily groundbreaking, these details advertised Chalayan's knack for adding some "fashion" interest to basics, altering them just enough to make them subtly desirable.
