VTMNTS. Fall 2022 Menswear - Paris Fashion Week

VTMNTS being the offshoot of Guram Gvasalia's Vetements, has so far revealed two collections, to which I reviewed the debut Spring 2022 collection, returns with a Fall 2022 array, that once again offers a tailored affair within Guram's experimental and antithesis fashion designs. Which, one should know by now that the Gvasalia's brothers are the famed Georgian fashion designers, who have had significant impact on the fashion world when they first revealed their Vetements collection in 2014 for Paris Fashion Week, with Demna leaving the brand that he created to be with Balenciaga. By its definition the Gvasalia’s have cleverly orchestrated their antifashion ethos under a luxury banner, by redefining elements of the fashion industry, from Ready-To-Wear through to Couture, ensuring Guram's VTMNTS keeps the distinction that is his contra styles alive and well. 

As the pandemic abates, sans the next mutation, across the Western world and runway shows return, a new threat has emerged, that being the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Which by proxy has set off a new Cold War. The situation is a terrible reminder on how, that despite globalized markets and feigned ideas of stability via digital networks, we are all vulnerable to calamity. Of course, some more the others, thoughts are with the Ukrainians who are under constant bombing from Russian forces. However, if the pandemic was an indicator and teacher that asymmetrical responses to a crisis and lack of coordination with dealing with viral outbreaks, this new cold war is also indicative of what we don't see coming, does, at the end of the day, reveal our overconfidence that everything is rosy. The pandemic shattered global supply chains and redefined economies, yet, the Ukraine will, most definitely have an even more profound effect on the world. As Guram and his brother are Georgians, the present danger now is Putin could start to invade other Eastern European countries, under the fear, once again, of nuclear war. So, it will be interesting to see how, with massive sanctions against Russia, the fashion industry will respond. Particularly luxury brands that have relied on Chinese and Russian markets for their clientèle.  

The VTMNTS show seems like a return of the earlier Vetements runway, with avant-garde master Rick Owens and his wife in attendance, Guram's locked in a supercharged enthusiasm that we love and know of a Vetements performance, with a thumping techno sound track and models walking at lightning speed, seemingly induced in a literal manner, inside a former Monoprix store situated on the Boulevard Raspail. Despite the collection holding a slicker appeal, the Vetements rawer elements are definitely on display. From exaggerated shoulder pads, oversized leathers and denim. The latest array feels rushed, holding degrees of stylization that have been seen before at Vetements shows, with its Eastern European ethos, as you would expect, which has been clearly defined within the VTMNTS branding. But, as an offshoot of Vetements, it is hard to know which brand is incorporating the other in its recopying of styles from previous runway showings. Maybe this is the obscurity that Guram wishes to create with VTMNTS, by mixing up past seasons and placing them onto both brand names. Difficult to say, but, with a world on edge, beyond runway aesthetics, the avant-garde may need a new direction to keep it refreshed and relevant.

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(A.Glass 2022)