Shayne Oliver’s Hood By Air normally shows during New York Fashion Week. And, given that his work is all about breaking down the boundaries between what we perceive as male and female garments (doesn’t “peoplewear” sound much nicer?), the idea of trussing his ideas rigidly to a menswear season seems, well, not terribly HBA. His show during New York’s ostensibly womenswear Spring season back in September was pretty much split 50/50 gender-wise, after all. So, in Paris, Oliver decided to think out of the box—which is, ironically, fairly characteristic of him.
Instead of thinking Paris menswear, Oliver thought, simply, of Paris—and decided to present something on Sunday, the day when haute couture and menswear butt heads. Something is the word I grasp for, because Oliver’s postapocalyptic couture moment of non-model models careening round a concrete bunker filled with toxic smoke is not something I would naturally call a fashion show. Which is what made it feel exhilarating.
“New York is cooler to show ready-to-wear in,” said Oliver, backstage in the Marais where his “something” took place. “I like to express ideas here.” Was this Hood By Air couture, then? Oliver nodded. “I think we’re ready for a men’s couture moment.”
Given the environs—and the models with feet bolted to wooden planks, chained above grubby mattresses—couture wasn’t your first thought. One model even dive-bombed through the audience, sending half a dozen voyeurs scampering before getting smacked upside the head. One chopped-up T-shirt-cum-dress-cum-coat bore the slogan “American Psycho.”
Yet for all that aggression, there was a couture feel to the clothes, with trains trailing in the muck and thick, feather-lined hoods. Feathers were also plastered to the models’ skulls: Oliver said he was thinking about “Quakers and Shakers, public humiliation tactics.” Namely, tarring and feathering, a punishment meted out as mob justice on the American frontier mostly during the 18th and 19th centuries. Oddly, it became a type of adornment in his hands.
I was also reminded of mid-century couture shows, where photography was banned—Oliver slapped a sticker over each and every iPhone camera lens he saw. “I feel like so many people look at fashion through that lens,” he said. “It’s about physically seeing another human being. A fashion show should be a physical experience—or else I’d do a lookbook.” He laughed. “It’s cheaper!”
So perhaps we were seeing Hood By Air’s haute couture debut here, in all but name. Oliver will show the rest of his wares more conventionally in New York in a couple weeks’ time. “It’s like the beginning of a pilgrimage,” he said. “It’s about a vibe, it’s not about selling something.” When the whole fashion world seems geared up to do just that, it’s a profoundly refreshing thing to hear.
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