Craig Green, Beatlemaniac?
It’s true. For spring, the designer took inspiration from John, Paul, George and Ringo — their aesthetics, work ethic and bottomless creativity — for a fun collection full of psychedelic references, flower prints and little laser beam-like eyeglasses made with lights normally used for dollhouses.
Green may have been slightly apologetic about the reference, but it certainly served him well.
In England, he said, The Beatles “are part of the furniture, and not necessarily very interesting things to look at. But I was thinking less about their aesthetic and more how prolific they were in their youth. What The Beatles achieved was almost like a miracle. They made so many albums in such a short period of time. It was otherworldly, and showed the joy of doing things.”
The show, which took place in a cathedral-like space at CNAM, the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts, was also very Green, with deconstructed silhouettes, belts and straps dangling from trousers, tops and kilt-like skirts, and a focus on the architecture and building blocks of clothes.
Green put his own spin on the trenchcoat, cutting out the back and making it with featherlight layers of shirting fabric. His sweaters started with a round neck and shoulders, and then dissolved into a mass of long yarn, while shirts had long strings and laces falling down the front and back, as if some stripes had come unstuck.
Military, Sgt. Pepper’s-style jackets came with unfinished contrast stitching around the pockets — red on an olive style, and orange on a camel one — while check patterns on skirts and trousers were blurry at the edges.
There was a feeling of spontaneity here, and the joy of imperfection. Some models walked down the sand-covered runway in bare feet, while others wore leather sandals, strappy booties and loafers with long fringes, courtesy of Green’s collaboration with Grenson.
Outerwear was inspired by dog coats — and early 1970s flower-print sheets. The coats, in saturated yellow, teal and gray, were sleeveless, with little knitted inserts, contrasting fluff around the hood and chunky zips and fastenings to keep out the chill during walkies.
Flower covered coats (and trousers) had long, swooshing fringes, while anoraks came with thick rainbow stripes and rope details. Those colorful flowers also blossomed across knits, belts and leather harnesses, the latter of which should pair well with the doggie coats in Green’s very own psychedelic universe.
