"Where do men and women meet?" Obvious! In 2015, the answer to Louise Trotter's question must surely be: "On Tinder." More abstractly, though, the sexes now increasingly swirl, ferment, then inter-impregnate via the medium of fashion. This Joseph collection for Pre-Fall represents an advanced attack on the gender barrier spearheaded by Trotter, who has been at the label's helm since 2009. Yes, the colors and the stripes on the fetching fur snoods-cum-scarves were informed by the art of Sean Scully. But the silhouettes, the codes, and the essence of this collection are all about menswear, pure and simple. Just look at the military-touched jackets, the revere-stripped DB overcoats, the single-pleat pants…halfway through the presentation this reporter couldn't help noting, "She's pinching our clothes."
Trotter, diplomatically, calls it "borrowed" and has interesting things to say about the refraction that now so closely pulses between the genders. Joseph is three seasons into its own menswear line, and the designer rightly observes that the hairier human has a "narrower but deeper" dialect of clothing to enunciate. Translated via Trotter to womenswear, this XX-chromosome collection took masculine staples and then messed mercilessly with them: an old-school dressing gown was turned into an overcoat; lumbering jumbo cords became chic culottes; Aran knit was applied to trousers (why has no one done that before?); and yarns were turned inside out. Trotter says she has focused so closely on menswear because "for me, right now, that is the way I want to dress. And it also reflects how I am seeing fashion now; I want to have pieces that have more longevity."
There is real character in this collection, which deftly sublimates menswear archetypes to reveal raw shadows of reveres past. Strip down the pomp and circumstance of menswear and you are left with clothes that are comfortable, elegant, and easy to move in—surely the essence of it. As Trotter says: "It's not that we're anti-fashion, but you want clothes that last. I want them to be pieces that you cherish, you love, you continue to wear, and you continue to add into your wardrobe. I want things that have meaning." Amen to that, whatever your gender.
