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Ah, Mother Nature: a source of wisdom as old as the earth itself. From Eden to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, green pastures have evoked ideas of purity, paradise and abundance, or ‘wholesomeness’ as we know it today. Look at the masterpieces of Monet and Van Gogh and you’d be hard-pressed to find works that don’t turn to flowers and grass. As for fashion, women’s clothing is no different. A brief discussion of the history of dress reveals so many flowers, that the mere mention evokes the tones of Merida’s priest. Even in men’s clothes are dedicated to spring flowers. Alexander McQueen-like dangling Moss bonnets, however, will be ground-breaking.
But change is coming. For SS23, men’s collections have been stripped back to the great outdoors, grass stains and all. It’s hard to know why this mistake was made on Earth, but like that poorly watered houseplant next to your desk, it thrives against the odds. Enter our lexicon fresh off a cultural shift that saw words like cottagecore and its trippier cousin goblincore, a menswear bountiful garden for boys plastered with arctic beta jackets and a place for readers of fungal literature. Since 2020, it’s taken up conversation at every 20-something dinner party. Add to this a sincere and growing concern for the natural world and perhaps this change is not so surprising.
Image courtesy of IMAXtree
Part of this menswear-nature juxtaposition stems from the age-old dichotomy of technology and fashion as an over-manufacturer at odds with the natural world. As Karl Marx said about the linen coat – so ungrateful, so – fashion tends to value clothing over functionality (But, honey, it’s Prada!). The result, in real time, is unsustainable profit, and also, the starting point for Lowe’s latest collection.
Calling on up-and-coming designer Paula Ulargui Escalona to infuse sneakers, cat pants and tailored cashmere coats with cat wort and chia plants, Jonathan Anderson brings us up close to the behind-the-scenes labor that begins in the winding polytunnels of Paris. Appearing on a backlit, sloping stage, images of dandelions swaying in the wind and birds circling appear on tablet screens alongside their outerwear. With this flexibility, Jonathan explained in his post-show briefing, “We can get rid of the dogma that fashion is about technology” and that it goes against nature.
Image courtesy of IMAXtree
Jonathan positively frames the issue with a refreshing agnosticism, not passing judgment but instead asking open questions. “I think there’s a conflict here: you think about Silicon Valley and this technology and energy ecosystem, surrounded by nature. And in the end they both get along,” he says. “Maybe there’s something in this, we’ll find progress in some way.” Excited by this improved understanding of nature, Paula uses her experience to highlight the intertwining relationships between man and nature. “These clothes are a second skin, a continuation of the wearer’s own biology, different. I wanted it to be a direct connection between two species of organisms,” she said. How’s that for a fetish, Carl?
If we accept that capitalism’s propensity for extortion and unnatural (a dubious term in itself) exemplary fashion is as doomed as technology, we may lose its potential for good. via London and Paris, A fil rouge (or vert?!) Botanical and numerological references among designers have offered new ways of thinking about our relationship with the earth and each other. This comes from new juxtapositions, like Lowe’s, as well as old ideas that are currently being revised.
Image courtesy of IMAXtree
Exemplifying the latter approach, Kim Jones looks at the Bloomsbury Group’s favorite country destination, Charleston. A place of left-field thinking and creativity, the building was adapted for the Dior Men’s Show across from Granville, Monsieur Dior’s childhood home, famous for its stunning garden cultivated by his mother Madeleine. በመካከላቸው፣ ሞዴሎች በዱር አበባ ሜዳ ላይ ለብጁ፣ እፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍፍ የወጣላቸው ጫማዎች፣ ዕንቁ ቀንድ አውጣ-ሼል የአንገት ሐብል እና ወታደራዊ-ደረጃ ባምባጎች በአሜሪካዊው የአለባበስ ባለሙያ ሚስጥራዊ ራንች የተሠሩት በጆንስ ቴክ skew በማቲው ዊሊያምስ ሮለር ኮስተር ዘለላዎች በኩል ነበር። This trendy streetwear, topped off with garden hats designed by milliner Stephen Jones – the perfect shade for a day in the flower beds – also features prints of French Wills and Bloomsbury alumnus, Duncan Grant, splashed across the body.
Apart from aesthetic appeal, such references provided an entry point to some of the radical ideas of the early twentieth century. Shorter work weeks? You have one of Grant’s lovers, the economist John Maynard Keynes, to thank for that opportunity. Proto-feminism with a lesbian intersection? Say hello to their old housemate, Virginia Woolf. Polyamory? The Bloomsbury team practically invented it.
Image courtesy of IMAXtree
Kim’s penchant for queer aristocratic green follies isn’t necessarily new, however. Even the fashion of the past shows no shortage of examples. Before Kim took over from Silvia Venturini, Fendi presented an earthy collection for SS20 in collaboration with Luca Guadagnino, director of the celebrated Bourgeois-twin romance. Call me by your name.. Dusty colours, rubber-coated gloves and hydration bladders set the scene for the Italian mason’s masculinity on the winding gardens of Villa Real.
Are gardens gay? Well, where the pansies are, rest assured – at least, Erdem Moralioglu’s oeuvre can be seen to suggest. His first menswear collection for SS22 took direct inspiration from Derek Jarman’s humble boiler suit, when he planted the seeds of his garden in Kent – AKA, the Garden of England – and for SS23, Erdem continued this queer lineage with a robust lookbook. Shirt shirts, Dijon tweed and elaborate booties, shot in Suffolk’s Benton End, another hub for green-fingered queer creators like Lucian Freud.
Image courtesy of IMAXtree
Owned by the late artist-cum-plantman Cedric Morris and his partner Arthur Lett-Haines, Erdem says, “A place of freedom for both. I loved seeing the pictures of Cedric and Lett outdoors in the gardens. They’re very relaxed and laid back, and I think that ease translates into the collection. Known for his floral prints, Morris shares with Erdem the taste at the heart of the designer brand. These were dresses worn to copy flowers: swishy, loosely tailored and defined by colorful brightness and queer affinity.
More broadly, it seems that as fashion digs deeper into the soil, we discover more about the natural world and about human relationships with the natural world. For example, Kiko Kostadinov discovered stories of rural content unknown to the audience of the show. Taking stylistic cues from the agricultural landscapes of Bulgarian figurative painter Zlatiu Boyadziev, Kiko showcases art made under state communism. “His work has always been mysterious to me,” Kiko says. The position of the subject is always very close to the viewer, the ground is stretched back.
Image courtesy of IMAXtree
Depicting life as close to nature as possible – albeit violently – Boyadziev was awarded a Hero of Socialist Labor in 1967 for his contribution to socialist art. In the year Amidst the clamor of the tragic stories of conquest and subjugation under Ottoman rule, we experience history through the lens of the Janissaries, a Bulgarian subspecies, a first-generation native who appreciates such figures, but is also troubled by ideology. Again, we to face The issue of how the land and the fruit is treated and for whom it is treated. As well as being a space for queer emancipation or technological calculation, Earth is also a contested space.
Imperialism, queer history and the current technological calculus. Weighty matters, indeed. But there is still reason to smile. That fashion can open up, inspire and critique the ways we interact with Mother Nature is the heart of joy at the center of the rustic references we see in the shows. As we engage with the clothes, we learn about fictional and historical lifestyles, and the issues they face and face, thus giving us horizons for new ideas. Fashion does not exist in a vacuum, rather it acts as a mirror to the world it lives in. Whether we like it or not, nature is fashion, and fashion is in nature.
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