Heavily criticized for overly white Vetements casts in prior seasons, Demna Gvasalias found a way not to not just speak to the concept of diversity, but take it to art concept levels with a runway presentation for fall 2017, held today at Paris’s Centre Georges Pompidou.
Titled “Stereotypes,” Vetements set the stage for the event with invites that came in the form of photo i.d. cards that featured photographs of random individuals from a wide array of backgrounds.
From the perspective of age, weight and race, models for the show were truly diverse and sans some of the bigger fashion statements, they looked as though they could have been rounded up off the street just prior to the show.
And while they defied the look of a stereotypical runway model, they still reflected stereotypes of people: the matronly older white woman in a big brown fur, the burly black man in a zip leather jacket, the white ’80s-era anarchist punk in a green studded moto jacket, and the white model with a buzz haircut looking very much like a stereotypical marine in head-to-toe camouflage.
As for the fashion, the label stepped back from some of the over-the-top construction statements it’s made in recent presentations and similar to the models, there was an everyday feel to the looks.
That said, there were plenty of covetable items like a woman’s puffer jacket with Vetements branding, a cut off denim jacket with patches, the aforementioned dyed green moto jacket and a floor-length, very emo-looking, double-breasted black leather coat.
See images and video from the show below.
