MARINE SERRE FALL WINTER 2018 WOMEN’S COLLECTION – PARIS FASHION WEEK
Manic Soul Machine draws from Marine’s last six months of experience as a designer at the helm of an emerging label. Though deeply anchored in past and present, Marine Serre’s upbeat radicalism always keeps the future in sight. Fall ’18 unveils a splicing of fragments from contemporary life with futuristic references. Tensions combine and evolve, bringing high-end fashion closer to its logical and necessary next step. Doing away with replicas of used looks, but upcycling actual used shirts into unique and irreproducible pieces with a refined, post-apocalyptic stature.
Marine Serre reacts to today’s reality through pragmatic and committed choices. The ‘ethical’ or ‘social’ labels have become far too limiting for what is going on. This is a new reality fashion, that will not be pigeonholed and does not compromise, but simply absorbs, reacts to, and works with the real needs, situations and fantasies over garments in the world today. Why would the world today need another fashion brand? Marine’s own answer: the day of the romantic designer, standing safely in a zone outside of business and production, is over. Inventing fundamentally new solutions to produce garments today is just as exciting to her as combining disparate chains of references on the aesthetic level.
Marine Serre is determined to build a brand that is playing with clothing in its entire scope, including its physical, material, cultural and dream-like dimensions. What Marine Serre truly stands for is a genuine care for reality, grasping a new and radically direct authenticity and inclusivity. She is driven by the desire to push the world of fashion some inches toward an actual future. Manic Soul Machine unfolds through a triptych of freeform movements, each a complementary facet of Marine Serre. The crescent moon from her previous collections has developed into an entire visual lexicon of its own.
The crescent is found in prints of different sorts, in almost all new patterns, in earrings, and huge logos. They are seen glinting on every look, while Marine’s trademark moire fabrics and catsuits emerge at their own rhythm. First, Manic Soul Machine tweaks the vocabulary of utilitarian wear, fusing rough edges and protective outerwear garments with echoes from couture. Stereotypical outerwear such as the biker, denim, or horse rider’s jacket, are reconstructed, adapted and reimagined for future survival.
Jersey and mousse answer to a need for comfortability and protection. Practical bottle, lipstick and phone pockets replace the classic handbag. The functional is never dismissed, but enhanced, while lightweight, wearable shelters come to underline a sharp femininity. A layer below, in the second sequence, reality hits again in another way: even simple cotton t-shirts find their way to the runway. Garments become simpler, uncomplicated and evident. This is the everyday morning wardrobe of Marine’s quintessential commuter, who instinctively picks up signifiers along her daily routine, but with a creative twist, energy and humor that can never be fully repressed.
The pared-down suppleness of athleticwear surfaces through gymnastics hints, and the first upcycled pieces are introduced. The closing act then unleashes the wild clash of inspirations that always remains at the core of Marine’s practice. Clean surf-suit and gymnastic tops flare into floating silhouettes covered in vibrant contrasts of colors and patterns. Techniques collide, and upcycling takes center stage. Used garments are processed as raw materials for a radically new aesthetics.
A series of hybrid dresses, made from repurposed second-hand scarves, are confronted with sportswear shapes and finishings. FutureWear appears bluntly handprinted on one single silk scarf. Then, a huge flamenco-inspired white dress turns up, born out of used shirts and a surf bodice. The crescents are evolving everywhere, spreading from ‘moon-ogrammed’ dresses to trompe l’oeil flower and moon-dotted patterns.
