Favorite of the Day: Gareth Pugh

Fashion as art is not a new concept. In fact the idea is often trotted out in defense of collections that are too much. Too expensive. Too detached from the real world. As if being "art" explains away the excess that can come from a lack of vision.

But there are some who deserve to have the clothing they make described as such. Gareth Pugh is one of those few. Season after season he presents collections that transport you to a sculpture garden.

But he also takes those skills and create pieces that are wearable. 

Beautiful. Dramatic. Breathtaking. But also wearable.

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Favorite of the Day: Gareth Pugh

There was a softer story being told at the Gareth Pugh show on September 25th. The stark blacks and crisps whites that have featured heavily in his collections over the years were joined by colors that seemed to spring from the bleeding together of the two. The silhouettes, usually so strong and, at times, oppressive, had a touch of the languid to them.

They were markers of a slow evolution and a reluctance to stand still.


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Favorite of the Day: Gareth Pugh

If my memory is correct, and it usually is, a color that does not live somewhere on the spectrum between black and white has never made its way down a Gareth Pugh runway.

For some designers such devotion to a set of colors or a type of print would devolve into both a gimmick and a crutch. The product would be clothes that said "this is what I'm known for because I can't do anything else". But that has never been the feeling one gets from Pugh's collections.

Instead of playing up the supple, soft side of leather like so many others have this season, he shredded it into small strips or cut it into rectangular blocks before reforming it into sculptural pieces.

In a season all about toughness, he was right on the mark.


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