Paris Fashion Week – Day 01: Wales Bonner, Sankuanz, Lanvin, + Ader x Camper

Paris Fashion Week has kicked off. Some of the collections presented take us back to past eras full of culture and art, while others point to the future with an avant-garde vision and other on the glamour of the 90s. Today’s highlights include: Wales Bonner, Sankuanz, Lanvin, plus a special mention of the pop up store celebrating the launch of the collaboration between Ader Error and Camper.

Wales Bonner: Volta Jazz

“Joyful, free-spirited, and elegant. Inspired by the vibrant self-representation of an enlivened subculture“

Music, movement, and freedom in the nightlife of Burkina Faso, is “Volta Jazz” the name of the Spring-Summer 22 collection by Wales Bonner (I.G. @walesbonner), a title that brings us closer to a gem that has been hidden, but whose highly richness in art, music, and culture make it a timeless treasure. Inspired by the studio portraits in West Africa of Burkinabe artist Sanlé Sory in the 1970s, in his famous Volta Photo studio where he captured in black and white a fashionable group of young and sophisticated visitors enjoying the newly liberated Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso).

The context of a generation in which the exuberance and optimism of youth resonated are the foundations of the collection that manages to project the extravagance and majesty of the work of the , translated into a collection with a luxurious cultural hybridization: hand embroidery, artisanal dyes hand-woven in Burkina Faso, and West African jacquard.

The harmony of Volta Jazz, the name of one of the most prominent Bobo Dioulasso bands of the ’60s and ’70s, is executed through the lush mohair weaves, polyrhythmic stripes, and sunset gradients that adorn pieces in the collection, remixing 70’s shapes with simple 90’s minimalism.

The Volta Jazz collection is accompanied by a series of films and photographs created in collaboration with artist Joshua Woods.. contextualizes and harmonizes with the collection. You can also listen to a special playlist put together by Florent Mazzoleni and Grace Wales Bonner to contextualize and harmonize the collection HERE.

Sankuanz: Bells From Another China

Sankuanz (I.G. @sankuanz_official) interprets the uniqueness of its aesthetics and asexuality by exploring youth culture with oriental style in its SS22 collection entitled “Bells From Another China“, presenting a collection that invites us to appreciate the surreal charm of another China, a China marked by vigorous and reckless youth with a gender fluidity that only the brand knows how to display.

The collection, while retaining the brand’s avant-garde style, is immersed in inclusivity by presenting the absence of gender differences in the garments. A mix between formality and informality, aggressiveness and tenderness, past and present can be seen in the various pieces. Classic elements such as the Sankuanz cross appearing on dresses and pants denote aggressiveness, while tweed brings an atmosphere of sanctity and solemnity and tenderness. Apricot-colored suits and pale blue oriental pieces reference Chinese crafts, such as brushwork art and traditional porcelain.In relation to youth culture, pieces with graffiti as well as double-layered cropped jeans denote reckless, creative youth. The blurred ink print accentuates their boundless nature.

The video accompanying the presentation of the collection features the models parading inside the Grand Hyatt in Shanghai, whose structure is circular in shape, as if they were walking inside a giant bronze bell from antiquity, undergoing a process of constant reflection and introspection.

Lanvin

The idea of traveling… journeys, escapes or getaways is the theme of Bruno Sialelli’s collection for Lanvin (I.G. @lanvinofficial) Spring 2022. Presented as a travelogue through a short film that guides us through the collection as if it were a journey, both for some periods of fashion and for the times of the brand itself, a journey which the brand describes as “real or imaginary, nostalgic or anticipated.

And so it is because the collection presents us with references to the 90s, both for being a period of modern fashion and for the glamor and extravagance of jet-set style travel. Going back to the 70s, the brand presents the reinvention of the Lanvin “JL” monogram from that period, updated as the JL 3-D, as a print or jacquard, as well as in accessories and luggage. Some pieces in the collection are a mix of time-hopping between the 60s and 90s through looks that retain the formality of the sixth decade but mixed with the youthful style of 90s MTV, stiffness in tailoring but with relaxed touches in pieces with works from an artistic collaboration of Lanvin with works from Raymond Pettibon’s Surfers series.

Aware of today’s consumer, the brand presents its collection not adept to a specific season but blurring the seasons to focus on garments that cover different terrains and places, different climates and intentions or attitudes, proposing an ever-changing and dynamic modern closet.

The house of Lanvin also presents a personal journey by deploying elements characteristic of the maison: micro-florals and haute couture silhouettes (Antonio Castillo); the Lanvin logo is an evolution of the one created by Jules-François Crahay in the 1970s. Key accessories in the collection are travel-inspired monograms and weekend bags, for travelers, and the neoclassical “22” bag, named after Lanvin’s historic flagship at 22 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.

Ader x Camper: The Lost Origin

A new Together collaboration was recently announced between Camper and South Korean brand Ader Error which includes footwear, apparel and accessories. Turning the design of the products under the concept “The Lost Origin”, which lies under the idea that a group of archaeologists who found traces of the space war during excavation work, managed to restored them, resulting in a collection with a wide range of unique items, such as  T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, backpack, and accessories that evoke the concept of restoring old and damaged shoes and garments. This is the first time that Camper includes clothes

During the first day of Paris Fashion Week our editor Elias Medini (I.G.@ly.as) took the opportunity to visit the Ader x Camper pop up store located at 16 Rue Saint Claude in Paris, here is a sneek peek. The price ranges from 35 euros for the keychain to 430 for the bag. The shoes from the above video are selling at 370 euros.