Patrick Michael Hughes Senior Fashion Editor/ Men's Fashion Writer
Photographic Art Direction Jordan Bowen and Luca Marchetto
LONDON:Digital releases of collections are still the main form of communication for many designers and fashion weeks around the world. London Fashion Week has concluded and the next leg of the fashion story is about to begin. The demise of London Men's Fashion Week, has seen the men's designers assimilate in a singular fashion week with the women's collections. A highlight within next season's innovative releases of both men and women was JORDANLUCA's Spring/Summer 2022.
The label founded in 2018 by Jordan Bowen and Luca Marchetto is one IRK has been following for a number of seasons in person and online. The men's fashion brand which has included women's fashion presented a creative women's collection with a few men's items supporting a theme. The collection concept was rooted in the Genesis narrative of Adam and Eve. However, in the Bowen and Marchetto's alternative Garden of Eden introduces us to an Adam and two Eves who, unlike their biblical forebears, are not weighted down by shame. There were two releases of the collection one on the label's commercial site and an uncensored available for free subscription on Only Fans. com. The marketing of the Only Fans. com rallied their fashion fans and followers on social media with a slow drip tantalizing campaign of "to be revealed".
It was a daring and savvy move. The provocative platform, entrepreneurship, repudiation and rumored rebranding of the Only Fans. com site has contributed to it's exponential growth since the COVID lock-downs. It's in many ways the modern redefining of global marketing and audience outreach. Empowered sex workers, cooking instruction, private trainers, Martha Graham Dance Technique and now an artistic, hip, London fashion label are all available by subscription on the site. JORDANLUCA has always stood firmly in the reality that their creative process is a catharsis, a focus, an emerging identity from their many years in recovery.
Spring/ Summer 2022 celebrates and unites three important themes body positivity, London and living life in the present. The brand states " joining forces with Only Fans .com JORDANLUCA honors the flesh in a rapturous, erotic communion - a celebration of the body and of youthful exploration...we support, sexual exploration and artistic expression"
The most most striking elements about the women's collection was the use of geometry and creation of form, from prints to shapes in dress silhouettes, tailored styles and 3D printed floral accessories designed by London based, Alexei Alexander Izmaylov, a Russian sculpture and MA graduate of the Royal College of Art.
The consistency of the JORDANLUCA streetwear edge is still visible and intact for spring/summer 2022. Fabrications for the forthcoming season were presented wet in many cases revealing a light and sheer sensibility. The wetness also drew attention to the floral motif with geometric rods seen on printed dresses, skirts in black and red a bit surreal and novel which we have see from the brand in the past. The color story of the collection was also stood adjacent with the men's spring /summer 2022, presented in during the summer. The subtle addition of gold metallic fabrication seen in lining added to this collection's theme of empowered- not diminished.
Another JORDANLUCA follow through was the use of a tulle fabrication fashioned in roses see in the men's collection last season in a trucker style jackets now re-surfacing as panels in a bungee cord sculpted dress. The use of bungee cords to alter styles and drape is also a JORDONLUCA notable but the styling was taken further for next season advancing the 3D materiality. The dresses highlighted bare body conscious zones of the female form, but some how were not revealing, as a matter of fact the entire women's collection was fairly conservative and not lacking in silhouettes. There was an athleticism to the fit and style of the knits a further JORDANLUCA notable. The men's pieces were sexy. This is were the partnership with Only Fasns .com was truly revealed, tank-tops cut to harness length, youthfully trending latex shorts, sheer knit shorts and jockstraps added to the unapologetic sexually free nature and theme of the women's collection.
A tailoring highlight were the suits in the collection which continued the explorations in from, shape and three dimensional ideation. They featured strict darting at the bust and formal peak lapels. The edges of the circle motif were left raw true to Bowen's and Marchetto's authenticity, counterculture inspiration and a commitment to craftsmanship. This was another strong collection framed in a provocative lens narrating the re-emerging and re- thinking of a fashion and artistic expression from a London design team, with an Italian flare, consistently ascending.
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