care-tags.org

this is how i lace my doc marten's. a journey through raf's outerwear archives filtered first through raf's new shape and then through sterling ruby's lurid lens, right? it's really fun

the big stuff speaks for itself so some nice little details:
- the tiny weird high-up pockets on the shirts
- the giant poppers vestigial from last season
- interior patches on some coats
- writing on the boots

really dislike the casting, i think this could have been a great opportunity to cast people other than the standardised industry models. i also wish the shoes had been shown with more than two cuts of trousers... perhaps it would have diluted the look/message but i really want to see what those shoes look like with a baggier cut.

this is going to sell out fast and remain collectible for who knows how long. a success on every metric then, other than, perhaps, artistic merit? the aim was always to make clothes, not art, but the shoes are the only place where the show feels truly challenging - not that art has to be challenging - but, i dunno, i expected ruby to Fuck Shit Up more than he did. someone who's more familiar with his work disabuse me here

can def see myself in some of this outerwear though, those trenches

that's an interesting point about commercialism vs challenging and i agree with you - where i liked ss14 for really making me ask "what the hell is going on?" and trusting raf enough to agree that there IS in fact something to be read there not just thematically but also in the clothes, this asks no such questions of me. it basically says "here is this cool shit, enjoy." one pays the bills, the other pays the dues (not that this collection doesn't pay dues), but there's a difference between a collection we as consumers like and a collection we as enthusiasts like to see proferred. ruby's influence, knowing what little i do about his oeuvre, seems to be limited to the purely visual. sure, the match-up between the two guys makes sense given their past history, but all i'm really seeing with the collection are elements drawn out of ruby's work and applied to raf-cut clothing in a raf-like way. i have no problems with that, but i'd love to see the depth that i'm going to assume they're both capable of.

that said, i want like, three or four of those coats. time to start sitting on my money.

relieved that raf is finally styling hair like a human being

I thought this was the best show of the season. Very cohesive and it carries on the pop-art strengths from S/S. I don't necessarily agree that it needs to be 'challenging' to be a strong show. I don't know anything about Sterling Ruby so I really cannot comment as to whether there is any social criticism going on, but I think this being aesthetically pleasing is enough for me. I think it's very much tied to the bright colors and new rave/dance/ecstasy looks that VFILES, older OC, and that crowd pushes. I realize that this is more muted, but I feel like the patterns and such are a different expression of this new candy-kid kind of look that's permeated a certain subset of young people. It's a mature expression, maybe? I could definitely be off base, but that was something that struck me.