Excerpt: R13. Fall 2025 - NYC

"...Can we master our vices?  And become a Master of the epicurean?  Much like the antinomianism practises of all the world's religions, who engage in sinful actions (usually in the form of certain forbidden foods, drinking and sex) to be purified by it, while not a slave to its seduction or addiction.  From Jewish Frankisim, Christian mystics, Islamic Sufism such as the Bektashi's, sexual alchemy of the Hindu Kaulakama, and esoteric Tibetan Buddhism.

Am I overstretching the connection of Leba's revamped, tough goth punk, to the discipline of the Left Hand Path?  Maybe.  But it is a fun correlation.    Leba's floral prints from his Spring and Pre-Fall arrays have taken on a darker impression for his Fall 2025 collection, with long hanging chains around necks, leather, padded jackets and militarist inspired styles towards the end of the lookbook.  These resilient and tough styles offer very little compromise, yet with touches of the eros, there does seem like a paradox of extremes have merged.   

But, that maybe Leba's point as a themed concept for his latest collection.  Does this illusive counterculture need to toughen up, to begin the 'great unplug' from the Trump and Musk fascist corporatism and digital landscape, with a sense of liberated sexuality in the process? 

We await."

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(A.Glass 2025)

Full review:  chiasmusmagazine.blogspot.com/2025/02/r13-fall-2025-nyc.html