The Dark Underground.

                           

Marc Jacobs for Perry Ellis Grunge Collection (1992) 

In a career-defining moment, Jacobs, who was then the creative director at Perry Ellis, showed a grunge-inspired collection for spring/summer 1993 that promptly got him fired. The layered plaids, cashmere thermals, beanies, and Doc Martens that he sent down the runway were the staples of his generation, and they all still resonate today.

Rick Owens

                                                      Rick Owens












http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WfAmL-dIBQ









 
Richard Saturnino Owens, known as Rick Owens, is an American Fashion designer from Califronia. He studied fine arts at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles before taking a pattern cutting class which led him to abandon his fine art studies for a career in fashion.
He launched the Rick Owens designer label in the mid nineties but it was not until almost a decade later when a shot of Kate Moss wearing one of his fitted, distressed leather jackets appeared in Vogue Paris that he gained worldwide attention and the support of American Vogue’s Anna Wintour. His skill at mixing light and dark with hard and soft has earned him a cult-like following of faithful consumers and critics who avidly lap up every Rick Owens collection. Owens has become the industry go-to label for softly luxurious leather jackets, Cimmerian colours, sinuous drapery and fierce footwear. Owens’ clothing is as functional as it is visionary and costly. His atelier produces a large amount of separates, which are also accessible to those with non-model figures, This is proven in the you tube video link above of his s/s 13 Paris womenswear collection. In the video you will see non-model women dancing aggressively,it symbolises power and dominance within the woman. Typically Owens cuts with a narrow shoulder and longer sleeves creating the look of slimness and he often designs with an indentation in the lower back where the spine curves; as he says it “always makes your ass perkier”. He has never been a designer to manipulate or morph the shape of the body, choosing rather to embrace shape and use drape, bias cutting and jersey. 

The reason I chose this designer is because again, Rick Owens experiments with the idea of Androgyny which links into a lot of soft grunge. I really like monochramictness of his collections, it makes the garments look elegant yet high end as well. He uses a lot of layering within his garments men and womanswear. I like the way Owens stick to basic shapes and drapes, this makes the fabrics and the garment look more high end and expensive. 

Suzanne Rae

                              Suzanne Rae







        'Victorian Gone Grunge'


Suzanne Rae is an independent Brooklyn based fashion designer who creates feminist and feminine designs by employing local talent and supporting local industries.Suzanne Rae's  women’s line inspired by and made for the progressive, modern woman. Both feminist and feminine, it explores the multiple juxtapositions of a woman’s being and interprets these abstract ideas into tangible garments. By creating 'feminist' designs, Suzanne Rae designs garments that are very straight, basic and question femininity. A Lot of Rae's designs are based on androgyny and this questions femininity as the garments do not show of a traditional 'woman like figure'. Androgyny links in to soft grunge a lot as the look of oversized,baggy and layering is seem to be what men wear. Suzanne Rae links this into her garments by the idea of not being a 'traditional woman' and dressing differently which others may see as not feminine however being top at the style chain, and being very high end fashion today. 
All samples from her collection are created in-house from start to finish with 100% of production done in New York City's Garment District. Without the garment district, local emerging designers, and even established designers who started out in New York, would not have been able to realize their designs and contribute to the American fashion industry. I really liked looking at Suzanne Rae's Fall 2011 collection 'Victorian Gone Grunge' you can really see the inspiration when looking at the garments. One outfit that i particularly liked what the checked tweed suit matching jacket and trousers, the suit print is vintage and dates back however, the way the jacket is oversized and the trousers are peg leg adds a more high end fashion feel to them. This also links back to Androgyny with the oversized suit jackets.
The reason I picked this designer was because Suzanne Rae's work is not completely grunge, however it links with the androgyny theme which I like as I like to wear oversized shirts and baggy jumpers.  

SUBCULTURES.

 

MODERN GRUNGE.

My subculture would be modern grunge/soft grunge. I put myself into this category as I went through everything that I enjoy and most of it was grunge/alternative related. I like to layer my clothes and wear things very oversized peices such as flannel shirts, baggy jumpers, t-shirts, jackets etc. I'm also a big fan of black boots, I like to outwear my boots so they look tired and scuffed. Im into a lot of alternative rock music such as the 1975(my fav band).

Thom Browne

I looked at few different designers on Oki-Ni.com and Thom Browne was the menswear range that caught my eye the most. I liked the way he had turned this plain sweatshirt into a high end garment with the three abstract lines on the sleeves.

Farfetch.com

Farfetch.com have brought out a new trend called 'Game On Japan' it is based on Japanese street style. This sleeveless double breasted woollen coat was my favourite piece from the collection. It is a key peice for this A/W 2014 as Sleeveless coats are majorly on trend this season.