Sep 26, 2014
OFF Strand N.3 Shoreditch, London August 2014
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OFF Strand N.3 Shoreditch, London August 2014
safw: jacob kimmie
(images via sdr photo)
as we were approaching the end of the year, i kept wondering that we weren't getting the full story on all of the african fashion shows, so i did a little digging and...look what fell out! i'm honestly not totally sure this south african fashion week is the same as the other we've covered in the past, and it's called by various things and (i believe) sponsored by mercedes benz, for those of you into the intimate details, but either way, it means we get more awesome designers on our plate, so there's that.
anyway, we'll start things off, i thought, with a designer that provided kind of the antithesis of what we generally think of when we connote 'african fashion': jacob kimmie and his s/s 2013 range titled, appropriately enough, 'blackhole.' according to his bio page, although homeboy is a south african by birth, he's based out of london and somehow involved in both that and the paris fashion scenes, which definitely shows in his work, and (methinks) goes some way to explaining his decidedly northern, urban aesthetic.
alors. when queried about the inspiration for his spring collection in an interview with the south african times live, the designer responded that he drew from "women’s crotches – those of Azealia Banks and Iggy Azalea. Also the music of Salem and Grimes. This Spring Summer 2013 is a paradigm shift collection. After lots of travelling to amazing countries like Nigeria, Paris and Uzbekistan, I realised how absolutelty bourgoiese fashion has become. Everyone is obsessed with glamour and bows and cinched in waists and those hideous brady bunch colours."
"No-one," he continued, "appears to be interested in being interesting or individual. I wanted to do a collection that felt a little wild and isn’t ridiculously expensive. I’ve made a point of using nylon and techno-silks (not-%100 silk). I’m feeling uneasy about the word 'luxury'. High fashion was never supposed to be luxury. BLACKHOLE, my SS13 collection is for a radical elite, not the bloated wealthy with weight issues. You need that gap between your legs to pull it off."
similarly, his own website explained that "(c)reated almost entirely in black, Kimmie describes the collection as 'the dark side of light…a breath of cheap black air…repetitive black beats'. Kimmie presents a radical conceptual wardrobe stripped bare of decoration or print; of anti-glamour twists and turns; anti-fashion as fashion. Feigning expensive luxurious materials for nylon and techno-silk, BLACKHOLE obsesses on the crotch as its starting point, or the lack thereof. Cutaway jackets, classically tailored, are cocooned silk-covered layers; sequins trapped in organza cases. Monotone texture blocking creates a raised bulk, contouring the body erotically." enjoy that. and our newfound presence in south africa! (see additional runway images at facebook)
(enjoy a short collection video here)