In the lead-up to Gareth Pugh’s show for spring 2011 I fished around the web and decided to take a look at my long-neglected Twitter account to see if there was any info about it.
I read a few angry tweets from some bitter fashion weirdos that he was showing a video and skipping the runway show. From someone who doesn’t attend the front rows of Paris (totes wish I was) I personally don’t care if it’s video or runway. At the end of the day I view everything on a computer screen (like a massive loser).
The collection is really more of the same we’ve seen from Pugh since he gained financial backing from LVMH, what was it, 3 seasons ago? The same being rather polite, commercial, approachable fashion and that’s not very Pugh at all.
There were wide leg trousers, asymmetric leather jackets and long silk tops in black, white and grey. The colour scheme overall was unadventurous and felt like a pretentious goth club hangup but who am I to judge? My idea of edgy is double denim. Kerazebomz!!
As the clothes become less theatrical and more wearable they look a lot like something Rick Owens would do which isn’t surprising considering he interned with Owens. In LVMH’s hasty attempt to commodify Pugh I think his room for growth as a creative talent is being stunted. It seems ironic that throwing money at a young designer such as Pugh would staunch his creativity. When he should be freed up to really create something outstanding I get the feeling he’s stressing about money and sales. That’s the impression I get when looking at this collection.
On the other hand he has a newly opened store in Hong Kong and that won’t pay for itself and to get LVMH financing is May-jah when there are so many struggling young designers who can only dream of being in Pugh’s shoes.
I feel like he should still be exploring who he is as a designer, an artist, a person but this collection was mostly things we’ve seen before and felt too familiar. You could argue that he’s building upon a signature but we’re talking about a designer who’s got less than 10 collections under his belt.
I know that it’s fashion and fashion is about selling a product but Pugh is capable of so much more than just that. He’s one of only a handful of designers working today who can push the limits of fashion, art and sheer spectacle.
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