Nehera’s fall collection, which bookended the one preceding it, represented a progression from ominous thunder clouds straight into the eye of the squall. Ladislav Zdút identified the two sources stirring up this tempest as the AI revolution and the current state of global politics. Bratislava, where Nehera is based, is about 600 miles from Kyiv. Moreover, noted the company head on a call, “in more than 80 countries this year there will be elections, and quite often we are expecting that the populists are going to win.” He sees turbulence ahead.
Having taken all of this into account, the team, informed by AI errors and glitches, continued to shake things up in a humorous, subtle and attractive ways. Exemplifying their “upside down principle” was, explained Zdút, a jacket with one lapel where it belongs and another extending from the hem of a coat. Another technique that reappeared throughout the line up was “shifted, or blown-away seams,” which could be seen on the puffer (look 7). Imagining the storm to be a tornado or hurricane, this jacket had swirling asymmetric bands rather than neatly ordered ones, but you might not notice that at first glance. Ditto the double shirt collars (look 31) and button plackets. Similarly cables on sweaters misbehaved by extending into the ribbed hem. A number of fabrics seemed to directly reference the weather: A woven fabric looked like it has been splattered with rain drops; suiting had glints of lamé, and the closing short coats, made of laminated wool, mimicked the reflective and slick quality of water.
Without the backstory, Nehera’s fall collection read as strong on menswear-style tailoring of the more traditional kind, with three-piece suits, and neckties. These anachronistic accessories are an object of fascination this season; maybe it has something to do with projecting power and/or bravado in the face of uncertainty. “Chaotic, but organized,” is how Zdút described the collection. The sartorial touches in it contributed the structure in that equation. Near the end of the lookbook you can see that there are some “mixed media” pieces, such as a car coat with a woven front and puffer back, which give a different impression coming than going, not unlike the before and after of a storm, actually.
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