RUNWAY: Vetements FW18

There is an argument that can be made that says that Vetements and the election of people like Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, Donald Trump in the USA and the Brexit vote are actually similar or born out of the same movement. The fashion industry has long liked to perceive itself as being ahead-of-the-game, of being avant-garde; however, it is not immune to populist and anti-establishment uprising like the ones we've been seeing unfold worldwide. A prime example of this anti-establishmentism is Vetements. The label's rakish, off-kilter and sometimes just plain head-scratching collections has fully disrupted the industry.

For years, fashion's response to its diversity problem, though lackluster, was slowly being corrected, but, once again, like the aforementioned populist movement, when Vetements came out and they became all the rage, the look they put out there (think austere Eastern European models), the pendulum of change started to revert back towards a lack of diversity on the runway. The label has been called out for this in the past. To their credit, there are attempts, seen here, of trying to add more non-Caucasian models.

Whether the changes in fashion due to Vetements' is for the better or for the worse is one that's in the eye of the beholder. However, these clothes, which are highly inspired by Martin Margiela, lack the finesse and elegance of that mysterious Belgian designer. The label's signature oversized hoodies retail into the thousands; for seemingly being anti-establishment or whatever the terminology is, Vetements and its designer Demna Gvasalia seem keen on being at the very top of the fashion establishment or at the very least the top of the price range. Oh and yes, there were clothes at the FW18 show. They were up-cycled designs highlighting army fatigues, some with holes cut out to create a cascading and textured effect, plenty of oversized hoodies, and a t-shirt that really quite succinctly put into 5 words the very essence of the label: "Hi. I don't care. Thanks"