EDITORIAL
SLATE JOURNAL OF MOVING IMAGES
Bricks NYFW Highlights: Rihanna for Fenty x Puma
BRICKS Magazine Online
By: Nuala Murray
In 2014, Barbados-born pop royalty and notorious Bad Gal, Rihanna floored the fashion world when she announced that she would be taking on the role of International Brand Ambassador and Women’s Creative Director for multinational sportswear brand, Puma. As anticipation brewed within music fanatics and fashion connoisseurs alike, the question soon arose: where would the songstress-turned-designer decide to finally grace the public with their first glance at her newest creative collaboration?
On February 12, the Rihanna for Fenty x Puma collection debuted on none other than prestigious industry runway-of-passage, the catwalk of New York Fashion Week. But really, could we have expected anything less? It’s Rihanna.
Photo: Getty Images
The show featured a high-status roster of models including Stella Maxwell, Marjan Jonkman and social media starlet sisters, Gigi and Bella Hadid. Most of the ensembles channeled a similar achromatic, gothic and genderless aesthetic -- a unique, subversive street style that carried with it a distinct sense of attitude. Rih tied in individual looks with recurring elements such as jumpsuits, hoods, lace-up boots and some more provocative features including garters, chains and chokers (recall the idol’s sexually charged 2011 music video for “S&M”) in order to present a seamlessly cohesive collection. Rihanna also pushed boundaries in her hair and makeup choices by accessorizing her gothic gang with slicked back, snow-white hairstyles and her cosmetic signature, emo-chic black lips. By far our favourite moment from the show was when Rih herself appeared onstage to conclude her catwalk premiere in an oversized graphic-printed coat and edgy tie-up sneaker-heels.
Photos: Marcus Tondo / Indigital.tv
Photo: Imaxtree
How Rihanna possibly managed to release a complete line of elite sportswear and her eighth studio album, Anti within less than 30 days, us mere mortals will never quite understand -- all we know is that Rihanna is absolutely killing it in 2016. This month Rihanna affirmed her status as a versatile culture queen and we cannot wait to see what the apparently infinitely talented tastemaker has in store for us next!
Paris Fashion Week: Rick Owens Mastodon AW COLLECTION
BRICKS Magazine Online
By: Nuala Murray
California-native and Paris-resident designer Rick Owens defended his title as “the godfather of brutal chic” in the presentation of his autumn/winter ready-to-wear collection today at Paris Fashion Week. His new collection, candidly labeled “Mastodon,” is a fierce, dark and apocalyptic assemblage constructed to reflect the current state of global ecology. Owens asserted his environmentalist convictions to Vogue in an interview before the show proclaiming, “Mastodons don’t exist anymore, as we won’t. Maybe there’s an acceptance level we should look for.” In his thought-provoking garments, Owens channels contemporary society’s anxiety about rapidly warming temperatures and the deteriorating state of the natural world at the hands of a generation defined by excess, artifice, technology and carbon emissions.
Today Owens walked us through his own prophetic vision, offering runway gawkers insight into the equally unpredictable futures of fashion and the global environment. The collection itself featured a plethora of earth-toned garments that ranged from deep black and stone grey to sandy beige and rusted green. The apocalyptic aesthetic ran through the seams of each of the 40 looks that crossed the catwalk, manifesting itself in recurring essences of edgy warrior armour and distressed peasant frocks (think Hunger Games meets Mulan.) The most striking elements of the collection were the metallic masks hand-painted on to a selection of Owens’s models in order to compliment the mineral-esque golds and silvers that decorated some of the line’s more opulent pieces.
With his collection Mastodon, Rick Owens paints an unapologetically grim picture of society’s future in order to remind us of climate change’s unforgiving impacts on our natural world. We applaud Owens for boldly fusing subversive socio-political ideas and superior fashion design, as the rogue designer nails both style and critique to present a symmetrically chic and radical collection.