Fashion's leaders have itchy feet and night fever for S/S 16. They're keen to be dancing, drinking, forgetting it all. But mixed in with this desire for nightclub hedonism is an intriguing nostalgia. Raf Simons wasn't fantasising about a night out in the clubs of today, but those of decades past, hence why he'd drawn inspiration from Mark Leckey's famous short Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore. A similar spirit could be felt at Sacai - where a glance over one's shoulder at the heady, carefree parties of yore was encouraged. New York's popular seventies night club Paradise Garage had sparked the inspiration. Why the focus on the past? Well this isn't nostalgia in a conservative sense. Designers aren't being puritanical or formal, instead they're in search of something less formulaic than the current state of affairs. Something a bit grittier - more of a melting pot. They're looking for an age when street and club style hadn't been commercialised and, before iPhones could record our every dance move and misdemeanour, we could be truly free. Back then, nightclubs were about dancing not posing - perhaps that's why the Sacai boys looked so deliberately haphazard, so pointedly thrown together. They weren't dressed to be looked at, but dressed to move, dance and groove.
If fashion right now feels both too fast and too slow - on one hand working to an unsustainable pace, on the other refusing to accept real, sizeable innovations or adaptations to its schedule and hierarchy - the past feels ironically both safer and vaguely modern. The authenticity of those times is what makes them so attractive. The cultural mixing and engagement between people of all different backgrounds and pathways that was happening organically in New York during those times had inspired the collection, which alongside a mash-up club classics on the soundtrack, mashed-up formal with informal, exotic with minimal, pulling together a mass of prints and textures. The Paradise Garage logo decorated garments alongside checks, flowers and knit stripes that mimicked those found on Peruvian blankets. Details from eveningwear staples like tuxedo shirts weaved their way into more casual shirts and shorts, while military elements toughen up softer styles. It was a visual assault - just like the best nightclub dance floor. At the end of the presentation models walked in laps, cutting past each other and circling one another before the final one disappeared from view - like a pinball finally falling into its hole. This was choreographed chaos - just like the garments themselves. As the last boy left bars of Robin S' 1993 anthem echoed through through the room. 'Show Me Love' - well, shoppers certainly will after this strong showing.
