Forget all the crap that Vetements get for ripping people off with extremely pricey clothing, for turning perfectly healthy people into fashion victims, and for making us believe that DHL could ever be cool. Vetements has become the most buzzed-about label in fashion for a reason and its designer Demna Gvasalia has proven he has more than one trick up his sleeve. Case in point is the label's upcoming spring/summer 2017 collection that will call on the talents of 18 other brands to put it all together, New York Magazine reports.
And not just any brands. Vetements has tapped brands that are absolutely legendary in their respective fields: Levi's, Hanes, Manolo Blahnik, Eastpak, Canada Goose, Lucchese, Mackintosh, Dr. Martens, Reebok, Church’s, Alpha Industries, Champion, Kawasaki, Schott, Comme des Garçons, Brioni, and Juicy Couture.
As New York Mag writer Cathy Horyn points out, this is a massive departure from the typical one-brand-one-designer partnership, making this feel way more exciting than every single "see now, buy now" collection combined.
The conceit behind the massive collaboration is actually quite logical. Gvasalia is not shy about the brands that inspire the clothing that he makes, and he realized he's never going to do it better than the ones he really looks up to. The inspiration started with him trying to make jeans that would be on par with Levi's and grew out to the rest of the collection.
"We really thought about each garment,” Gvasalia told New York Mag. “What is the first brand that comes to mind when we think about, for example, workwear pants? So we went to Carhartt." (It should be noted that Carhatt isn't included in the list of collaborators.)
What Vetements has done with this upcoming collection is bring together the best of the best to work on every piece in ways the label admits it could have never done on its own. "We realized that the horizon of technical possibilities for design are much larger when you work with people who have this kind of know-how," Gvasalia told New York Mag.
But Vetements is also bringing the type of design that none of these brands would have done on their own. Gvasalia says that he loves Juicy Couture and will use the brand's velour to make evening gowns. The Manolo Blahnik shoes will be destoyed, according to the label's founder. Jason Schott, of Schott, says that the jackets are beyond anything that he would ever wear. It's a mutual collaboration where Vetements is getting the highest of quality and these traditional brands are getting his anything-but-traditional ideas.
While Vetements would rarely be accused of being unoriginal, now their clothing has the added benefit of being beautifully made. Something that Gvasalia admits wasn't there before. "We’re always compromising because something is never 100 percent," he said. It's an idea so simple it's hard to believe it hasn't been done before. Kind of like going at your own pace when it comes to fashion shows or taking a familiar logo and co-opting it. It seems Vetements has a knack for coming up with simple ideas that feel revolutionary.
