Hussein Chalayan F/W 02 Paris

[MulletProof]

I ended up watching this show on TV the other day by mere accident and remembered how beautiful, powerful and admittedly confusing it was for me when I first saw it and how relevant it still is today, almost 10 years after it was presented. I thought it be a good idea to start a thread both for discussion and for those who are interested in his earlier work.

Set it to full screen and enjoy.
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[MulletProof]

style.com review (vague but it has some good information on the show).

Paris, March 8, 2002.
By Sarah Mower.

Hussein Chalayan likes to set an intelligence test for his audience. When a lone Asian model walked on stage dressed in what was clearly a genuine ethnic costume, then stood stock-still for fifteen long minutes, there was restlessness and discomfort in the crowd. Was this some sort of silent protest? Was that a tear trickling down the poor girl's face?

When she was joined by several other models whose costumes were increasingly overlaid by black shards of western menswear fabric, the guessing game entered a new round. First, Chalayan segued into black skirt and pantsuits done with his distinctive asymmetric cuts. The free-floating strips of fabric he's been attaching to clothes since last season recurred, both through the tailoring and hitched to jersey dresses, which were constructed to drape, bunch up and fall in waves at the hemline. Then he turned to cotton sweat-fabric, cut raw-edged as tops over little flouncy skirts and as a plunge-front gray halter dress with a full, swingy hemline—simple but elegantly modern. Moving into brown canvas, he cut short dresses and coats with military pockets and then layered a net web over black jersey dresses.

After the show, Chalayan revealed that the ethnic costume came from a region of eastern Turkey, but refused any further explanation, saying, "Interpret it as you will." No matter: neither enigmatic pronouncements nor symbolic gestures could obscure the fact that these were stunning—and quite original—clothes.

 

[MulletProof]

[style.com]

 

[MulletProof]

[style.com]

 

[MulletProof]

[style.com]

 

[Scott]

classic chalayan! i must start by saying,it's genius the things that man could do with a catwalk. and the clothes....complex,fragile yet somehow easily translatable. i wish he would return to this sheer power.

thanks mullet for the refresher

 

[MulletProof]

[style.com]

 

[MulletProof]

classic chalayan! i must start by saying,it's genius the things that man could do with a catwalk. and the clothes....complex,fragile yet somehow easily translatable. i wish he would return to this sheer power.

thanks mullet for the refresher

you're welcome, Scott!

How I wish I could own any of the pieces in this collection. They look sublime, especially in motion.

I always loved his journeys through time in his shows, I actually think time must be one of the great torments (for lack of a better word right now) for any creator of clothes IN the allegedly 'ever changing' business of fashion and I admire how he'd face it in his past collections and challenge his audience through presentations that can feel quite crude in an event [fashion week] that craves and celebrates a transition.. that's often not real.
Hope that makes some sense!.

 

[Scott]

you're absolutely right mullet. and i miss when chalayan wasn't afraid to put his brain and his heart forward and make these deep,prolific statements....perhaps giving people long-lasting(like us!),philosophical thoughts and memories. this is what made him such a master.

 

[Squizree]

Oh Chalayan He's probably the most revolutionary designer of my lifetime. He's so insightful and has a ridiculous eye for shapes. When I look at his work I don't even necessarily classify it as fashion but more as ideas and thoughts.
Shapes, geometry and mathematics are everywhere in his designs and there's something so poetic about that.

 

[Scott]

^definitely something poetic in the way he does it for sure

 

[Kerry]

I love Hussein Chalayan ! Even after years his past work is still modern and stylish, sometimes even better than many other collections from other designers we see today.He has the vision and he dares to demonstrate to us what clothes should be like and can be like in his eyes.

 

[LolaSvelt]

Classic. It seems that he inspired Ghesquière's Fall 2007 Balenciaga collection, no? At least with the patchwork dresses.

 

[Squizree]

^ Maybe, but I wouldn't think so. Ghesquire's collection was much more African/Asian inspired, while this collection seems to be more East European.

 

[4n98]

edgy and exquisite.
love the use of ethnic elements.

 

[4n98]

I see Ghesquire hint, too. especially on the jackets and pants.
anyway, like it.

 

[tiffany]

This was a magnificent collection

 

[MulletProof]

Hmm.. I guess Ghesquiere's work may resemble Chalayan's but what they do is completely different, Chalayan prior to this collection and a few seasons onwards experimented a lot with deconstruction, this collection seems a perfect example of that time.. of what happens when you mentally, culturally and physically rip apart a traditional costume, a uniform that allegedly identifies you, what remains of it and how you find your way back to it, in case you really ever left it in the past (at least that's a bit of my interpretation).
Ghesquiere at the very same time had been playing with appliqué, patchwork.. all in the most literal sense, it wasn't conceptual, it was pure exploration of a technique, his S/S 02 'Patchwork' collection (right before this one by Chalayan) is a perfect example:

[style.com]

I see the obvious ethnic + patchwork-in-appearance similarities, but they're both going in very different directions, they're all part of a different journey as designers.. and let's not forget 2002 was a very inviting year for more bohemian, ethnic tendencies.. which Ghesquiere naturally took part of.. they crossed roads but I don't think one necessarily influenced the other.. not even 5 or 8 years later.. but who knows, anyway, Ghesquiere in his last years has been taking a strange amount of 'ideas' from more independent designers.. sometimes blatantly so.

 

[Scott]

no way. nicholas' patchwork interpretation was obviously a bit kitschier than the more traditionally and ethnically minded chalayan. for him it wasn't about a sort of fantasy 'boho' style but a real cultural influence. not saying i didn't like what ghesquiere was doing but i could never correlate what these two men were creating....they were on completely different planets.

 

[softgrey]

d*mn...
he should go back to this...
IMMEDIATELY!!!...

this is sheer brilliance...
i want to wear most of it right now...
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thanks for posting this MP....
MAJORLY inspirational...

**btw-just by coincidence i picked up a little black chalayan dress yesterday!......
how excited am i?!??!>>>...

looks like lanvin...only better...
...

chalayan...