EXCERPT: VETEMENTS. SPRING 2024 - PARIS FASHION WEEK

"...The antiestablishment message is probably wearing thin, even as a Vetements gimmick.   But, regardless it is the kitsch value or devaluing of excess, by making it exclusive which does hold an appeal.  Would you like to own a Vetements piece for that sake? 

The artistic idealism to create exclusivity to protest against excess is not a new concept, the Italian conceptual designers and architects of the 1960's and 1970's such as Archizoom Associati and Superstudio cleverly reinforced the idea that their designer furniture was to be so expensive and out reach for the consumer, in light of the onslaught of shopping malls filled with cheap furniture and homewares.   It becomes a spectacle against consumerism.

I am not entirely convinced that Guram is orchestrating this with his collections, but I feel degrees of influence are very much evident with the backlashed styles.   The models now veiled and covered, like plastic mannequins, the hyperreal imprint of a collection that seems repetitive in its array.  And overwhelming for the consumer by its sheer number of pieces for a Spring collection.  Guram has stamped Haute Couture across some of the dresses and gowns in ready for the celebritydom and the many fans that inspire to be alike through their phones and digital relays.   

So, if you want a taste of this fashionable and excessive tipping point, you may have to just settle with a lessor and somewhat affordable style from the Vetements backlog.  A pair of socks." 

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Full review: chiasmusmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/07/vetements-spring-2024-paris-fashion-week.html 

(A.Glass 2023)