Wilde streak: Designer shows the art of fashion

26 : 01 : 2012 Music : Calligraphy : Letman

Paris – Dries van Noten imagined an eccentric meeting between music and literary creatives Frank Zappa and Oscar Wilde for his autumn/winter 2012 menswear collection, presented alongside a live artists’ mural installation.

Dries van Noten menswear collection AW12 Dries van Noten menswear collection AW12
Dries van Noten menswear collection AW12 Dries van Noten menswear collection AW12
Dries van Noten menswear collection AW12 Dries van Noten menswear collection AW12
Dries van Noten menswear collection AW12 Dries van Noten menswear collection AW12
Dries van Noten menswear collection AW12 Dries van Noten menswear collection AW12

Mixing Zappa’s dialogues with a plummy-voiced narration of Wilde’s The Happy Prince, models walked the runway alongside a team of artists painting a mural featuring Wilde’s words and Zappa’s energetic execution.

Van Noten, who described the collection as ‘psychedelic elegance’, delivered his inspiration in two ways: prints packed with narrative and detail matched to a solemn, tailored, military-tinged Victorian story.

Van Noten took on board the heightened perceptions of the psychedelic 60s in the motifs borrowed from Dutch artist Gijs Frieling and the re-interpretation of Wilde’s words by calligraphy artist Letman. These two artists painted the mural backdrop at the same time as the show.

LS:N Global likes the application of themed graphics for a fashion collection, realised through a live installation. Brands can learn more about Revivalism in our macrotrend.

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