SS26 SUBTERRANEANS
SHAME PREVENTS, PROTECTS AND DESTROYS. SHAME ENABLES AS THERE IS NO FIERCER DRIVE THAN SHAME — IT’S A FORCE LIKE NO OTHER, ITS INESCAPABLE RUSTY STENCH GOVERNING EVERY ASPECT OF HUMAN EXISTENCE.
THE 1980 FLOOR SHOW IS A PSYCHEDELIC ROCK MUSICAL PRESENTED BY DAVID BOWIE AND HELD IN 1973 AT THE MARQUEE CLUB IN LONDON.
THE DIPTYCH PERFORMANCE BETWEEN BOWIE AND MARIANNE FAITHFULL CLOSES THE SHOW. BOWIE DRESSED IN FEATHERS AND LEATHER THIGH HIGH BOOTS WHILE FAITHFULL APPEARS AS A NUN, MODESTLY VEILED AND WRAPPED IN A DARK CAPE.
THEIR DUET ENCAPSULATES THE EXTREMES OF THE SPECTRUM OF HUMAN LIBERTY AND SHAME. ONE FIGURE ENGULFED IN SELF INFLICTED SHAME, THE OTHER SEEMINGLY FREE FROM IT. A PARALLEL BETWEEN A FIGURE CONSTRICTED BY DIVINE-IMPOSED MODESTY AND A HALF HUMAN, HALF BIRD ALOFT, AS A PEACOCK FANNING ITS TAIL. YET, WHILE OPPOSED, THEY CAN’T EXIST WITHOUT ONE ANOTHER, ONE’S CONTROL BALANCING THE OTHER’S FLAMBOYANCE.
ONE PRAYER OF RESTRAIN, ONE PRAYER OF EXCESS AS WITHOUT SHAME THERE IS NO STAGE; WITHOUT SIN, NO SPECTACLE.
SS26 SUBTERRANEANS’ SPECTRAL GLAMOUR TRAVELS THROUGHOUT THAT SPECTRUM, SATIRIZING MY OWN BURIED SHAMES AS WELL AS SOCIALLY IMPOSED STIGMAS AND TABOOS.
BENEATH THE OOZING WALLS OF AN UNDERGROUND SEWER, SACRED SYMBOLS ARE TURNED AROUND: WORKOUT PULLEYS HELD AS ROSARIES, MARKERS OF DEVOTION TO A CULT OF THE SUPERFICIAL, WHERE SALVATION IS FOUND IN THE AVOIDANCE OF SHAME’S CLAWS— A FAITH BUILT ON SHALLOW STRENGTH, FRAGILE AND TRAGIC.
SS26 SUBTERRANEANS
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SUBTERRANEANS ARE THE LITTLE SHAMES BURIED DEEPEST AND MY INTENTION WAS TO SCRATCH BENEATH THE SURFACE, TO EXPOSE THE PRIVATE FIXATIONS THAT PERNICIOUSLY DRIVE OUR CHOICES.
THIS COLLECTION IS A VESTIAIRE FOR A RELIGIOUS ORDER SOLELY DEVOTED TO THE SUPERFICIAL AND GLAMOROUS, IN WHICH SHAME SERVES AS AN ADVOCATE NOT FOR MODESTY, BUT FOR FLAMBOYANCE.
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SS26 SUBTERRANEANS
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THE COLLECTION SHOWCASES MATERIALS THAT CONVEY A SORT OF "FINANCIAL DISTANCE" SUCH AS CORODILE LEATHER, FUR OR TWEED THAT ARE MATERIALS THAT ARE UNUSUAL FOR THE USUAL zz___0o DESIGN LANGUAGE.
