Balenciaga Questions VI

1. Balenciaga Fall/Winter 2004
2. Raf Simons Fall/Winter 2009

And what happens when the DNA of Balenciaga is injected into menswear? The suit eventually becomes something else. Brutal shoulder proportions and feminine hourglass waists.
/HORST

Balenciaga Questions V

1. Balenciaga Spring/Summer 2004
2. Jil Sander Fall/Winter 2009

One more time. Another fictitious example of Simons x Ghesquière. The latter took over the house of Balenciaga at the age of 25 in 1997. He is history. And he is cute. Maybe Nicolas is the best of them all?
/HORST

Balenciaga Questions IV

1. Balenciaga Fall/Winter 2004
2. Jil Sander Fall/Winter 2008

Raf Simons undoubtedly shows apprecciation for Nicolas Ghesquière. Wouldn't these two make a beautiful couple, respectively team? Simons x Ghesquière. Wouldn't it be nice?
/HORST

Balenciaga Questions III

1. Balenciaga Fall/Winter 2003
2. Louise Goldin Fall/Winter 2010

Maybe unofficially, Fall/Winter 2010 has been declared a post-Balenciaga season? A London tribute to the Parisian house? The subliminal Transformers quote becomes literal meaning itself.
/HORST

Balenciaga Questions II

1. Balenciaga Spring/Summer 2006
2. Christopher Kane Fall/Winter 2010

Strictly speaking, we do not see a mere copy here. Instead, ornamental flower arrangements in white, blue and yellow are substitues for graphic compositions in white, blue and yellow.
/HORST

Balenciaga Questions

1. Balenciaga Fall/Winter 2003
2. Burberry Fall/Winter 2010

The master and the slave. Where is the fine line between inspiration and copy? Does an impression become a memory that recurs again during a moment of creation? Is referring an unconscious process?
/HORST

Wannabe

Prada Fall/Winter 1992

There was a time when even Miuccia proclaimed bimbo style. And as I've bemoaned the disappearance of Barbie Fashion, this is the last call for a better world. Self-absorbed, materialistic and pretty pretty.
/HORST

Iconographic Omen

1. Riccardo Tisci by Steven Klein
2. Givenchy Fall/Winter 2011
3. Givenchy Fall/Winter 2002

Why the rottweiler? Riccardo Tisci explains: 'In spite of the fact that everyone thinks I am very much a rottweiler — that I am very dark and everything — I have a side that is very romantic that I show to very few people.' Interestingly enough, the quadruped already appeared before Tisci took on his legacy.
/HORST

Quote via Interview Magazine

A Short History Of Twins In Popular Culture IV

1. Martin Szekely, Sam and AA (2005)
2. Kelley Walker, Andy Warhol and Sonny Liston Fly Braniff (2006)
3. Yoan Capote, Migrant (2010)
4. Jonathan Schipper, To Dust (2009)
5. Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset, Powerless Structures (2000)

We cordially invite you to the Twin Art Project. The pairing of the seemingly identical as a poetic, post-pop act. Duplication as an ironic critique towards mass production becomes the cipher for alienation and solitude. Duplication today means subtraction.
/HORST

Removal

Top Helmut Lang

White letters on white ground. White cotton on white skin. Helmut Lang Underwear. Luckily it did not become one of the shredded fragments for his latest Make It Hard installation. I'll make it my everyday uniform.
/HORST

Miusing Escher IV

1. Miu Miu Spring/Summer 1997
2. M. C. Escher Blowball, 1943

The last Miu Miu flower from me to you. I especially picked a dandelion as it is the most beautiful of them all. And if you blow it carefully, it might recur again in 50 years.
/HORST

Miusing Escher III

1. Miu Miu Fall/Winter 2011
2. M. C. Escher Rippled Surface, 1950

The similarities might appear very abstract. But once watching the campaign movie Muta, the implication of rippled water becomes self-evident. Eventually, we see the exact same image. Twice.
/HORST

Miusing Escher II

1. Miu Miu Spring/Summer 2002
2. M. C. Escher Drawing Hands, 1943

Exploring the iconic. The thought of perpetual existence. As this thought is both naïve and surreal, the attraction towards it gradually increases. And to be honest, sometimes it is nice to lie to oneself. Believing the illusion.
/HORST

Miusing Escher

1. Miu Miu Spring/Summer 2010
2. M. C. Escher Untitled (No. 126)

Quite obvious and still unnoticed. It recalls a childhood memory of mine. Filling out a whole paper with animals. Each outline complementing the other and creating yet unseen creatures. Escher lies within us.
/HORST

Detect

Lanvin Fall/Winter 2011

While compiling my fall wishlist and fictive wardrobe, I realized the Ossendrijver outdoor attire feels quite right. Ideally, I'll just layer up my summer coat with a nylon bomber.
/HORST

Shush!

Artworks Takashi Murakami

Kitsch is when our feet touch wet green grass. And golden raspberries sparkle in the sky. Kitsch admits the happy yeah. Rich, lavish and pointless. Loud at first sight, quietly prompting surreal truths to your mind.
/HORST

Serialization II

1. Raf Simons Spring/Summer 2012 Finale
2. Maison Martin Margiela Matryoshka Dolls

There is something extremely powerful and energetic about a group finale. Especially when the protagonists appear restricted and forced into mechanical order. 18g testosterone per beat.
/HORST

Polyvinyl Chloride

1. Raf Simons Fall/Winter 2011
2. James Long Fall/Winter 2011

As our short history of the plastic raincoat in popular culture evolves into a comprehensive saga, its index demands another chapter. Working title: Polyvinyl and polymer in contemporary fashion.
/HORST

Serialization

1. Maison Martin Margiela Tokyo Store
2. Brian Jungen Cetology, 2002

A rail of luxury items in a sterilized surrounding. Artefacts of mass market production reworked into prehistoricalist sculptures. Hold together by the linear order of our culture's white spine.
/HORST

Nuclear Whiteness

Dior Homme Spring/Summer 2012

Once ahead our time... when we live in underground bunkers, artificial brutalist spaces made of concrete, furnished with leather and Persian carpets. Sleeveless will become the uniform. Tribal tattoos will indicate the social rank.
/HORST