Liam Hodges AW19
Nostalgic iterations in fashion is overdone. “The perfect you and a perfect time” doesn’t exist, claims the London designer. His AW19 collection reflects this menacing reality. The garments and styling represent the erosion of a physical identity; a mutation and warping of familiar fabrics into hyperreal matter in anticipation of an impending apocalypse.
“The Martians are Coming to Save the Earth,” reads one T-shirt. Other motifs, despite the nostalgia-bashing, reference a discernibly 90s ‘cyberpunk’ aesthetic with the film ‘Hackers’ being a stated influence. Lee Bul’s bio-punk aesthetic is also a clear inspiration for the collection. Prints in garments are overlaid multiple times to denote a glitch in the process; the lack of control that man will ultimately have over machine.
Tracksuits and denim sets appear deconstructed and pieced back together. Bleach and acid-wash bleed through steel-blue cottons. There are patchworks of rainbow colour and pattern, and updated camo prints fit for an engulfing cyberspace. Collaborating with brand Ellesse on its activewear elements, there is a clear fusing of electricity and magnetism to the human body through high-shine fabrics and circuit-board detailing.
These are garments that look ready for constant reinvention and the foreboding corrosion of a post-apocalyptic world. The collection is a bold statement on the state of ego in digitised realms. It is a beautiful interplay of science and the fallibility of mankind, biomechanisms lost at the intersection of multiple, crumbling dimensions.
photography CELINE ANTAL
words MORNA FRASER
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