Martine Rose explored sexuality, sensuality, and bad taste in her one-of-a-kind Fall 2019 Menswear Collection. Foregoing a show and doing a quiet presentation instead, she let her clothes speak for themselves, which were flurries of cultural references ranging from San Francisco gay culture, Rave culture of the 90s, and a whole lot of 80s. The models in the lookbook even looked like stereotypical swingers of the said decades and cultures. This offering can be interpreted in multiple ways. On one hand, it’s an examination on how bad taste has, over the years, triumphed to become the most desirable quality in fashion today, thanks in part to the likes of Miuccia Prada and Demna Gvasalia. Here, silhouettes were exaggerated and oversized, rhinestones and studs (though of as tacky in the past) are aplenty, and blinding highlighter shades of neon colors were incorporated. On another note, Rose explored the different sides of masculinity which, at this time, is a heated topic in both socio and political circles. Some pieces took on feminine techniques, such as draping and cut-outs, while others had the hyper-masculine approach of rigid tailoring. Fashion plays a vital role in societal conversations, and Martine Rose is poised to be at the center of that with this extraordinary line.
Photo: Eloise Parry / Courtesy of Martine Rose
