Berlin Calling: Vetements Fall 2021

vor 3 years

The techno-kid aesthetic comes as no surprise when discovering a new Vetements collection. The self-made underground label has built itself into a success by taking inspiration from counter cultures and the protest vector and placing them in the fashion industry.

I have recently relocated to London from Berlin, and I dearly miss it. Reviewing this collection brought me back down memory lane, and through the punk, dark aesthetic of Vetements’ looks, I saw the Friedrichain couples, the friends I met in the Damensalon bar in Neukölln, and the intimidating fashion-forward people I aspired to resemble. Guram Gvasalia took inspiration from those individuals who don’t fit (nor do they want to!) into the codes of normal society, creating his own version of the techno-club uniform.

The logo t-shirts are a staple for Vetements and this collection was no exception. Surface-level deep mantras and quotes adorned the tops and sweaters for an engaged take on mainstream fashion. The opening look is a hooded man with an upside-down anarchist logo on his torso. Logomania to the extreme: Gvasalia has branded not only the garments, but its wearer as well. Apart from the -maybe too- recurrent branded t-shirts, the fashion of this collection is an interesting take on office wear. Suits and fitted shirts are deconstructed, re-invented, torn apart. Trashy classy.

Going through this gigantic collection of 165 LOOKS (!!) made me realize the immense amount of creativity put through those endless déclinaisons of post-punk. 50 shades of Goth. Even though the creativity behind such an enormous production has to be praised, it is also hard to read a collection presenting so much variety and versatility. Two satirical t-shirts are fine, but this collection includes a more than needed recurrence.

Guram Gvasalia presented this collection with principal inspiration from a specific kind of level of hell we are all living in. Jean-Paul Sartre stated that “Hell is other people”, but for Gvasalia, Hell is Us. The ironic take on officewear through the spectrum of techno counter-culture is a direct critic of capitalist society and the financial world. It is interesting to note the huge evolution of this brand, even if the redundancy of its style is taking away from the most fashion forward and meaningful collection of Vetements.

Text by Marien Brandon
All images courtesy of Vetements