Alpha Love Men’s Collection
Monday, June 30th, 2008
The Spring/Summer 2009 Gaspard Yurkievich men’s collection was unveiled Thursday, June 30th at the Maison des Métallos in the 11th arrondissement of Paris.
The new collection finds its inspiration directly in the sartorial language developed during the 1920s, which consisted in integrating and reinterpreting habitually masculine dress codes within the feminine wardrobe: the military outfit, Tyrolean jacket…The dialogue has, thus, been recreated and presently “feminized” elements are in turn reintegrated into the men’s wardrobe, all the while remaining true to the search for modernity that characterizes the collection.
At once graphical and decorative, the collection perpetuates its quest of the perfect balance according to the principles developed by the Art Deco movement.
The range of pastel shades is defined by the strictness of the black lines which provide the silhouette’s contour. Here we find an optical illusion, giving the impression of a jacket overlaid by another or layered shorts.
The collection proposes a sensual and contemporary elegance. Sophistication and modernity find their place in the chosen materials: the refined and seemingly weightless nylon jackets, satin-finished cotton gabardine, tweed jackets and shorts whose polished surfaces attract and reflect the light. Elaborated fabrics, madras and jacquard with wave designs, add an aestival feeling to the collection.
The sensuality is reaffirmed through references to Greek Antiquity: shoulder pleats on select tops in silk and modal jersey revisit the toga draping. The decorative composition of the Greek bust is used as a print and translated into an allover tee-shirt print.
Accessories are purposefully left absent from the collection, with the exception of a metallic chain worn on the forehead as a reference to the antique diadem.
As it is the case with all of Gaspard Yurkievich’s collections, the music weaves a delicate and integral subtext to the collection. Here Dani Siciliano plays with the concept of the “chorus” in archetypal Greek tragedies and further strengthening the juxtaposition by scoring music influenced by Detroit “Booty House” and her own compositions.
All photos by SHOJI FUJII
