from the chiasmus archive: "VETEMENTS. SPRING 2024 - PARIS FASHION WEEK" ( A.Glass. July 3rd 2023)
Society is probably at a tipping point, a term coined by political scientist Morton Grodzins in 1961, to which he borrowed the scientific description used to describe linear environments, when they begin to tip from within their own structural weight. And it maybe difficult to source the reasons why, except to agree that it could be over excessive amounts of information or as the late French postmodernist philosopher Jean Baudrillard decreed, "we are gorged with meaning and it is killing us." Hence we are now becoming overloaded, gouging on fast paced rapid information in a digitalized world. And most likely are not adjusting to its impact sociological. This could be seen with the masses of misinformation as opposed to factuality. The COVID-19 pandemic was a perfect example of how sourced information warped the actual reality that a pandemic was a very serious global event. Rather, the feigned comfort of believing otherwise, did hold a seductive cue for the many glued to their mobile phones. This continued overload after Two years after the pandemic, is already weighing on our already stressed systems, with the assumption that called artificial intelligence is a threat, would be front and center at this point in time as the new anxiety. The machines won't take over and tip us into oblivion, we are going to do it without their assistance. The human race is crashing under its own weight of excess.
Guram Gvasalia of Vetements fame, maintains his fixation, like his brother Demna of Balenciaga fame, of their anti-fashion ethos. As noted with my reviews of Demna's extreme reworking of the famed fashion house. Guram's own brand Vetements, to which Demna was part of before he ventured onto Balenciaga, laid the course for the Gvasalia's reactionary template. And there does seem to be an attempt of both brother's to push the envelope with their undeniable backlash of fashion, yet paradoxically and with large dashes of contradiction. As they've maintained an exclusivity and their market share of high priced clothing.
And Guram's latest collection is within that reflection of an overweighted and inundation of excess, which reminds me once again of a quote from Jean Baudrillard, "to bring about an excess of reality, and have the system collapse beneath that excess." Is this their unwitting desire? Particularly Guram who, after missing a few seasons, comes back with a collection that is over 70 pieces, more so presenting his Spring 2024 stylizations with even more excessive selling points, attributing to the extra oversizing of garments and the toying with Couture, by calling the collection couture when it is not. The anti-establishment message is probably wearing thin, as is the 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 1960s and 1970s such as Archizoom Associati and Superstudio cleverly reinforced the idea that their designer furniture was to be so expensive and out of 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 back lashed 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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(A.Glass 2023)
All Vetements reviews to date: chiasmusmagazine.blogspot.com/search?q=vetements
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Fall 2024 review soon.
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