To the casual observer—perhaps one whose eyes were narrowed to resist the rays that pierced the summer cloud cover in this pleasingly outdoor show—the fact that many of Hussein Chalayan’s pants were strapped to the type of ski-pole-style walking sticks favored by grizzled elderly tourists in middle Europe might have been bemusing. These were an expression of one element of Chalayan’s source material, diagrams of the mechanical limits of the body in dance, and just one move in a collection that featured many.
As parsed in the recently posted Resort collection review, this season’s Chalayan boogie is based around his cogitations as to the effect of colonization upon dance. This is not the place to recap that rhythm, but instead to examine the shapes thrown as a result.
Chalayan’s prints variously reflected the cultural impositions upon South America (by Spain and Portugal) and Japan (by the U.S.) that he was grooving to. The swishy drapes that gestured on the surface of garments were material shadows of dance moves. Each model carried a cute little beatbox that variously emitted grunts and foot-squeaks of a dancer’s effort, or abstracted rhythm. Some jackets and pants in crispy linens and cottons featured panels that hinted at the capacity of dance to both reveal and conceal. There wasn’t—to this narrowed eye—a clear connection between the theme and the double hemming on many of the pants and shorts, but it looked good. Chalayan’s sashay will build to its climax in September, but in the meantime this was a bracing middle section.
