How would the Ponytail gal not be into Matthew Dolan‘s Spring Summer 15 collection. I won’t spend much time explaining Matt’s life story when you can read the exotic tale of his upbringing on his fresh website, but we’ll talk about why this floats our boat so much. [ It mostly has to do with denim, so this would be a queue for haters to eject right about now. ]
The narrative starts with denim, that wonderful root that represents so much greatness in travel and history (most of you know, but Levis Strauss was a tent and wagon canvas in the beginning). From then on, the evolution of denim becoming shelter, to workwear, to ready-to-wear, to high fashion, and inspiring in its ageing process, has been a romantic tale. We loved how it wouldn’t let us down, and later fell head over heels for how it fades and deteriorates.
So if there’s one thing I’ve learned from life, it’s that one shouldn’t create if it already exists in the world, or else why bother? This aspect of design and creation is often overlooked, and thus we are overwhelmed (in fact bombarded) with same-ness that clutters our sensory clarity. Think about how many spin off brands of Nescafe instant coffee there are on your supermarket shelf, or how is it so difficult to choose a new kind of mint chewing gum at the convenience store? [ Meanwhile, anxiety builds as the store clerk taps his finger on the counter, and the person behind sighs with impatience. ] This happens in the fashion world more often than not, where the big fish make soul-less reproductions of garments that smaller (but usually more respected) fish create. This is a fact of life.
We’ve gotten to a point where new ideas just don’t come out of thin air anymore, they’re inspired by the existing – but I believe there’s much goodness in this process. It’s a sign that we humans have existed on this planet for long enough to learn a thing or two from history. It’s just a matter of getting just the right balance for that seriously fresh tasting fruit punch. This is when we can layer that “peanut butter sandwich of existence” with so much shit that it becomes an entirely new food-group. Matthew Dolan made a new food-group everyone. He shredded his classic American sandwich up into strips, wove it into a rainbow cake and when you bite into it, you burp unicorns while farting sparkles. The sum of its parts made a whole new thing. It’s workwear for women at its highest evolution.
“… existing second-hand garments are completely deconstructed, unwoven and rewoven to create new textiles.”
– Matthew Dolan
