After a very noisy first showing at Paris Fashion Week, Duran Lantink made sure nobody left indifferent. A few were horrified, most screamed into the void of the internet, and the brave few clapped in peace. One of them being Jean Paul Gaultier himself, who got misty-eyed, seeing his enfant terrible younger self staring back at him. JPG has always stitched his provocative spirit into his work. Lantink just seems to have a louder concept of that spirit, carrying the torch, or maybe two.
What’s a strong starting point for Lantink’s second collection for the maison? An image of Marlene Dietrich. What’s an even stronger one? An image of Marlene Dietrich with a whip in hand. And just like that, the concept of ‘Madame Masculinity’ was born, a mix of gender fluidity, creative tailoring, Wild-West references, sportswear nods, and a dash of intimates.
The show opened with pitch black tailoring, cinched waists, bombers that met skirts halfway, only to reveal they were some gentleman’s coat all along. Then came pleats, exaggerated volumes, and some conic shapes here and there, alongside cowboy hats that sometimes doubled as hoods. Somewhere between the ski-gear of it all, came a lineup of wooden playthings, mannequins perhaps, wearing really sporty-looking waist garters. It might’ve been last season’s full-body ‘hairy bits’ illusions, that made this nod to Gaultier’s Marionette collection as easily digestible as a grape. A few basques, prints, and confused looks later, Alex Consani walked out fuming, literally. She wore a dress with Marlene Dietrich puffing on a cigarette across the fabric, and somehow, the smoke continued straight out of Consani’s own hair. See it through reason, and you might hit a wall. See it as it comes, and it might take you anywhere.
