SANKUANZ 15SS collection continues its long lasting theme--- youth fashion culture. Different from previous collections which focus on clothes only, this time the design reaches a more vast area, bringing bizarre and amazing visual impact as always, and displaying a performance with more possibilities through various styling. This is the “Square” collection showcased in Victoria House today.
In the 15SS collection, designer Shangguan Zhe recomposes the global youth street culture he observed. Colors are simplified as black and white. Plenty of easily detected doodles and graffiti turn clothes into canvas and wall, with various stories hide behind these graphics. The SANKUANZ 15SS show is miraculously transformed into a youth rally. Numerous identities take part in, street poets, sporty boys, thinkers, violence committers, face hided strangers, mutated cartoon characters and undefined figures and thoughts. They express through the symbol and slogan on body, reflecting a teenage riot in online culture.
As creative sources, words and graphics inspired from the Russian jail tattoos are the highlights of this collection. You can sense the prison thoughts in 20th during the disintegration of the Soviet Union, such as “Mom, forgive me!”(Мама, прости!), “humans are beasts”(Сейчас зверь), and “peace” (мир). They reappear in doodles, a popular expression way in fashion, and become a peculiar cultural landscape. The jail tattoos are in a rough and mottled quality, and it is magnified and displayed in the appearance of clothes per the logic of designer, formulating an important visual element in street fashion. Taken as visual sources, artworks that parallel appear are from Chen Tianzhuo, the long term cooperative artist with SANKUANZ. The patterns and slogans directly and resolutely position the attitude of Square collection.
SANKUANZ 15SS undertakes the binary opposites deconstruction in clothing form. The reformed graphics intensely collide with European army uniforms, which are taken as base for creative work by Shangguan Zhe. The uniform mixes European nationalities and histories, when the green color is replaced by black and white, and heavy material is changed into sports fabric like mesh polyester or smooth jacket fabric, then it become a wanted top for street teenager. You can observe the combination of the graphic and uniform in the forepart of the long coat. Zippers and double buttons alternatively appear, throwing the clothes function---detecting identities away. You can also pay attention to an interesting item, combining the multi-pockets military vest with coat sleeves. The chest pockets for placing pistol, eyewear, kettle and ammunition clip are kept, providing more visual possibilities for modern men’s fashion.
It is not hard to find lots of hoods in the collars. In the designer’s perspective, the hoods, derived from hoodie and uniform, are to cover tattoos and identities, but now are changed into new areas to place prints. The “construction first, destruction second” sequence thinking method in radical fashion comes up to present from 1990s, and is unbridled expressed in the Square collection.
Another noteworthy design can be found in a series of boxing pants, made of artificial leather, with deformed camouflage, animal prints, and skeleton and fire patterns. It is inspired from Northern Tatar riding culture, echoing the layered pleats, originally designed to ride horses conveniently by the northern battling race, in the back side of the black and white coat.
In accessories, the baseball cap with detachable mesh veil and bucket hat with tattoo prints are the most popular items. Besides, the oversized backpack adds moving charm into the collection. As visual communication carriers, the fashion items organically composed by designer Shanguan Zhe, and SANKUANZ collection is playing as a platform for the expected biannual performance. SANKUANZ continues releasing its special teenage culture force. Can you feel it?