Click images to enlarge.
As we entered the Palais de Tokyo, the room was filled with smoke, pumping out in incense-scented curls and brewing a black mood. The music, by i-D contributor Matthew Stone was “Angelo Badalamenti ‘Llorando (Crying)’ remixed with Tibetan singing bowls and gongs”, he told us. The effect of which, was grand, haunting but harmonious, and that about sums up the collection too. First out was a night bride, her face shrouded by a black veil hanging from a Nefertiti shaped headdress. Next came a series of gothic geishas, who resembled Nick Knight’s iconic image of Devon Aoki, with hairpin weapons jutting out of buns, freaky pink eyes and blood red lips. They were wearing unbreakable, sculpted leather coats that sat high above the neck and reached out as far as their hairpins, painting a strict, sharp silhouette. Legs were either leather drainpipes or billowing black flares with equally billowing sleeves that could belong to Dracula’s vampire women, but were also a bit sci-fi warrior/ Matrix Reloaded. The black corsets on the upper body supported both theories. Colour was introduced with silk, silver gowns that were definitely sci-fi warrior, and then came a rush of blood in red dresses, high-necked and to the floor, so that the models could glide. Laser cut leather and suede fringing hanging down the back of black dresses were the prize details, and the whole collection had a synergy and dark, dreamy aesthetic that could only belong to Gareth Pugh.
Text: Sarah Raphael
Photography: Mitchell Sams
Film: Kloss London
See all of our SS13 womenswear coverage here.
