Christopher Kane. Spring 2020 RTW - London Fashion Week

Images from the designer and the public domain. Credited to the 

photographer/company where applicable: Gorunway.com )

Christoper Kane for Spring 2020, maintains the sex theme, as seen from his Fall 2018 collection where he had screen printed moments from the 1972 sex manual 'The Joy of Sex'.  In homage to the tail end of the 'sexual revolution' pre the 1980s, if It can be called that, when the shackles of 1950s conservatism and theistic morals were released and well, the rest is history.  Kane, has touched upon that period in time when sexuality began to explore the idea that is was a pleasurable exercise beyond procreation.  I feel that society has revisited, in its variations, the 1950s nuclear family unit and the institutional aspects of marriage, sans the faith, as a way of connecting with stability.  Also, the epidemic of AIDS throughout the 80's and 90's may have also contributed to a more restrained way of looking at sex.  What ever the case, without being too sociologically minded, it is great when fashion designers begin to experiment with the theme of sex in a more intelligent and less blatant way.  

Kane has titled his latest collection “Eco-Sex” in reference to the idea of making love within the ecology of nature, particularly whilst under the stars on a warm summers night.  Just at the point when Betelgeuse, a mega star in the night sky, finally goes supernova, releasing a flash of light across the cosmos.  Wow!  Or in a field of flowers, before the sun sets under a pleasant South West breeze.  Need I say more?  There is a tantric overview within Kane's themes although the esoteric has being left out, however the collection does resonate aspects of 60's nostalgia.  It is, of course balanced by Kane's tailored and refined clothing.  Yet, there is a nice crossover of bohemian inspired prints that could never go out of style, seen as fields of flowers over coats, dresses and skirts.  

The slickness of Kane's defined aesthetics maintains his focus to the designs on offer, which reflect an ease and open array, whilst at the same time are withdrawn into selective points of style.  It is not a bare-it-all presentation, rather, as seen with similar 2020 Spring collations.  There is an overall enduring aspect to some of the pieces, a dichotomy between what is unrestrained, yet also the resilient.  Such as the floral mini skirt styled with a padded, tough looking, cropped leather jacket.  

Materials are mostly synthetics and/or polyester blends, which allow the prints to be vivid in their designs, particularly for Kane's Eco-Sex flora prints and star-charts.  The color palette flows into a spectrum of florals set within its modernist cues, in contrast to the Stygian prints of a night sky in all its multitude of stars.