Click images to enlarge.
“They’re not the best at what they do. They’re the only ones who do what they do,” read the back of the t-shirt Haider Ackermann was wearing as he received congratulatory hugs from friends like Tilda Swinton and Betony Vernon backstage. A quote originally describing the individuality of Grateful Dead, it illustrated Ackermann’s universe better than anything. It’s a world centred around a type of woman he created, who in turn has taken on a life of her own and become something of a phenomenon. It was her age and what getting older means to her that inspired Ackermann’s show at the Espace Vendôme on a chilly Saturday morning in Paris. “I’m very much surrounded by very strong women, and they’re all women who look strong, but still there’s the feeling that due to the years, they’re getting more fragile, and there’s a frustration within them, which is very touching and very moving. It was all about the strength and the fragility,” Haider said backstage. A Marilyn Monroe song reiterated the words “kiss me, hold me, thrill me, love me” as seemingly tough-as-nails peroxide blondes strolled calmly but eerily down the catwalk. There was a palpable contrast between the lyrics and the looks – a physical toughness and the need for affection – and it was in the contrasts of textures such as leather and rugged fur, velvet and herringbone, and a multitude of wools that Ackermann’s theme of strength vs. fragility was most evident. And, of course, knowing that said Monroe song was part of her rather sinister film Niagara, in which the bombshell played a deadly seductress out to drown her husband in the Niagara Falls, the many-sidedness to Ackermann’s autumn/winter 13 woman became all the more enthralling.
Text: Anders Christian Madsen
Photography: Mitchell Sams
