Here is Mary Katrantzou’s autumn/winter 2014 collection. Impressive and with a whole new take on things. She states that inspiration can be found everywhere: “the symbolic exchange of a stop sign, the meaning of colour, heraldic insignia, the symbolic charge of a rose, uniforms, uniformity. Each has an immediate visual impact, a language of their own that suggests an idea, a belief, an action”.
The designer creates a symbolic series of clothing with several meanings hidden below the surface forming a language of her own. Through her unique designs she tries to reinvent the brand’s aesthetic which is now oozing of creativity. The basis are matters of politics, profession, religion, sex and sexuality by featuring emblems, signs and uniforms along with her trademark digital prints.
Mary Katrantzou juxtaposes luxury, lace and refined metallic fabrics with embroideries, appliqué and brocades as she mixes the past with the present. worked onto the shapes. They are representative, still, of their individual parts and professions but they are given an added symbolic value.
One can distinguish butcher aprons, bespoke military-inspired appliqués, pagan silhouettes, samurai warrior elements,
elaborate details referring to scouts, city-boy pinstripes, mechanics, bakers even construction workers.
text: Lazaros Tzovaras
