I must admit that at first glance, Gareth Pugh's
Fall 2009 collection was not easy to look at. The clothes are visually violent, aggressive in how they express their futuristic and wild aesthetic.
An animalistic spirit is alive in the outfits. There are coats that look like armor - stiff, metallic, and geometric.
The fabric of the coats is even used for a jacket constructed like an obi. Pugh also employs the protective covering of other animals, such as fur. But the way this tunic is made also appears threatening: it has large shoulders and the length of the hair reminds you of its origin.
Other outfits utilize man-made armor, like chainmail. Even the boots are bound to ward of predators.
Blown up, the small geometric pattern resembles those used by harlequins. Using it for puffers is clever.
Rendered in all black, the armor now looks like snakeskin.
While the sheen of these fabrics remind one of slick black kelp.
The interpretations for this collection are slippery, like slimy eels.
These black and wet things awaken our deep-seated fear, but also fascination, of the grotesque.
These headpieces look like squid or seaweed thrown from the ocean.
From afar, the pins on the jacket and the trench look like thin animal hair. For such menacing creatures brought to mind by the collection, the dangerous seems perfectly natural.
Loose hairs and feathers look no different from ripped and tattered fabric.
The outfits look as if they just landed from another planet, or they just rose from the depths.
This post is part of a set in reply to a query by Nihaal Faizal from India on the topic of his sketches and on science fiction
