Deconstruction has always been a guiding force for Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim at Monse. The first look of their first runway show was a mini dress that mimicked a men’s shirt wrapped around the shoulders—a harbinger of things to come. “There’s always that element of undressing,” Garcia says. Fall 2022 adds a new layer to that conceal-and-reveal concept. The key print in the collection is inspired by wheatpaste posters in Paris that were ripped, revealing all the layers of advertisements past underneath. The individual elements of this print—a mishmash of tapestries and ornate florals—also call to mind old aristocratic decor.
In fact, Tudor England also influenced this season, which is evident in the corsets. Done up in sheer black mesh and jersey, it all feels youthful, with a little punk undercurrent. Some of the dresses and sweaters have potential cutouts that can be exposed or closed via hook-and-eye closures. A dress with a red houndstooth skirt and a leather bodice is separated at the empire-waist by such hooks; the wearer can choose how much or how little they want to reveal. Similarly, the moto jackets have sleeves that can be unzipped to show a little shoulder, or a sliver of sweater.
The most classically Monse item is the closing black dress, which features a triangle of a beige corset. Complete with laces up the front and at the shoulder, it stops short of being fussy. Maybe because the ties end in metal aglets like shoelaces, it looks glamorous, yet relaxed.
