Dear Diane and Shaded Viewers,
A villa in the tuscan hills overlooking Florence was where Shayne Oliver pulled off something that only he and his Hood By Air crew could really do. He brought together traditional ideas of Italian tailoring and softness with his New York ghetto-goth aesthetic, in a way that was jarring, confusing, and ultimately, brilliant. Front creased pants were saggy in the back, nodding to both worlds, and luxurious camel coats were beautifully finished but partly constructed to make for apron-like silhouettes on the shoulder. Other colours of grey, pale pink and lilac created a palette completely unexpected for the often hard and dark HBA aesthetic, as were the sprinkling of gaudy 70s references.
One of the more accepted formats of a collection is a few ideas that are closely refined and explored well. Here, Oliver presented many, many silhouettes and even more ideas, all perfectly executed and when put together in this opulent villa with exaggerated lighting, a soundtrack by Arca, an appearance Mykki Blanco and the after-party DJ’d by Venus X, it was a complete tornado in the context of Pitti, where the audience were left thinking, ‘what just happened?’. In the meantime Shayne Oliver didn’t bother with questioning anything, but rather just did what he does best; presented completely different ideas of garments, sexuality, gender, as well as the constructs of a fashion show. Bravo.
(Images courtesy of Pitti Immagine)
Happy Saturday,
Sophie Joy
