Fashion’s current fixation with Y2K leads to a somewhat homogeneous take on sensual dressing, resulting in a constant wave of skin-baring garb.
At Sportmax, the creative team executed a conceptual reinvention of the trend, looking at sensuality as an essential aspect of womanhood rather than through the male gaze. In exposing their bodies, women are seen reappropriating their identities, according to the show notes, which centered on the significance of nudity.
Held inside a run-down industrial space lined with cozy vintage sofas and armchairs, the show opened with an ivory white boxy suit, its pants elongated to cover cowboy boots. Variations on the garment came with furry and python-like textures, or in wilder cuts with exaggerated shoulders, the waist cinched tightly with repurposed suspenders, which had whiffs of bondage dressing without being kinky.
Those tailored looks walked the thin line of the masculine/feminine dichotomy that recurred throughout the show.
Cue look number two, a buttery leather minidress crafted from a single hide draped on the torso, snaking around the neck and protruding a short train, which was knotted toward the end to avoid it dragging on the floor. It set the mood for distorted bourgeois and ladylike tropes, including halter neck dresses sprouting a giant bow; spaghetti strap frocks trimmed with feathers on the side, and even gimmicky knit and jersey numbers knotted here and there to reveal portions of the skin.
And what’s with furry-soled shoes this season? While they are seemingly ubiquitous, they heightened the off-kilter quality of this captivating collection.
