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Cher was at the Gareth Pugh show, and it only get better from there. Sending a coven of white witches out in full on, floor length tubular gowns that swallowed the models whole, Pugh came on strong – as he meant to go on. Inspired, he told us, by a tribe of warrior women called the ‘Asgarda’ who live in the Carpathian Mountains, creepy bare trees crept up the hems of gypsy skirts and high collars wrapped around the model’s necks like paper. Pugh always makes something of shoulders, and this season he carved yet another original silhouette, that cut straight up from the shoulders to the face, taking away the dainty femininity of the neck, and creating a new, forceful shape that was both beautiful and alien. “They arm themselves, they train themselves, and they defend each other”, he said of his tribe. After five pure white looks, Pugh introduced matt black, slate grey and a stunning cobalt blue in sculpted coats with insane collars and the same uniform bell-shaped skirts. The tempo changed towards the end as the designer flexed his creative muscles, going “DIY” and stitching layer upon layer of shredded black bin liners “for sale in the pound shop”. The bin liners (hardly recognisable as such) built look upon look to create the ultimate metamorphosis in the final five looks: black crows, like something out of The Birds. To be able to take a ‘fabric’ like bin liners and make couture-standard gowns from it shows just what an incredible talent Gareth Pugh is. A stunning collection, and Cher was there.
Text: Sarah Raphael
Photography: Mitchell Sams
