Known for their modern and timeless take on inclusive glamour, designers Beckett Fogg and Piotrek Panszczyk created a Fall Winter collection for AREA taking inspiration from soft architecture, celebrating duality and and spreading their ethos of inclusiveness and irreverent glamour and the beauty of craft.
The starting point of the collection presented at New York Fashion Week, revolves around the iconic draping work of leading French couturier Madame Grès, utilizing techniques ranging from crochet, soldering, sculpting, printing and weaving.
Rivers of crystals run around the body creating a structure that mimics a fluid armor, and architectural silhouettes inspired by Japanese costume-designer Eiko Ishioka are translated into quilted leather designs throughout the collection.
This idea of structure in softness is also conveyed by draping pleated fabric in big fluffy couture hearts and butterfly bows. Area explores the idea of fantasy, escapism and realism all at the same time. Alongside these dream-like pieces, the designers anchor the collection into reality by playing with textures and classic ideas of sophistication, such as French wooden parquet floor and British herringbone.
For their FW20 show Area unveils a collaboration with myreality the new luxury lifestyle brand cofounded by Harry Nuriev and partner Tyler Billinger. myreality merges fashion, art, and design by elevating modest materials found in low-income urban spaces to the status of luxury art objects.
The Area x myreality collaboration results in an installation piece exhibited in the runway as limited edition objet d’art accessory pieces. The pieces are completely sustainable, created from recycled material – mainly garments and crystals from previous Area runway shows – sourced from the Area studio and showroom.
*Images courtesy of Ritual Projects*