Lou Dallas AW18
I don’t know about you, but romance — and I’m talking pure, unadulterated, stone-cold-Edward Cullen with-a-boner-that-he’s-not-acting-on romance — is a concept I feel not acquainted with in the least. Up until 2013, my idea of romance was the toaster oven an ex had bought me for my birthday. And while everyone’s experience with love and romance is different, I would argue that the majority of 20-somethings today have a similarly warped idea of what could be deemed “romantic.”
The nature of today’s world simply offers too many outs, too many alternatives to romance that appease our laziest, most base impulses. Why make some grand, in-person gesture when you could “super like” someone on Bumble instead? Or better yet, send one of those virtual slingshot hearts on Tinder? (I rest my case).
Which may explain why Raffaella Hanley’s label, Lou Dallas, feels so fresh. Yes, sure, ruffled bloomers cut in an olive baroque jacquard and spliced with purple crushed velvet may not scream “fresh” at first glance. But it’s in part because her designs bear a striking resemblance to that of maid Marian — because of their compatibility with chamber pots and words like “forsooth”— that they appear so original. While examining fashion’s obsession with culling design ideas from the past, Alexander Fury explains, “Voyaging into a distant, distorted and indistinctly remembered past can render something new,” (especially when you consider the number of collections inspired by recent decades like the ‘80s and ‘90s). And what could feel more distant to the average 20-something, whose romantic life is beholden to faceless and heartless algorithms, than unabashed, wholehearted declarations of love?
For her AW18 collection, “Know Your Chamber”, Hanley took inspiration from Edgar Allan Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death. In the story, Prince Prospero and 1,000 other nobles hide inside a walled abbey to escape the Red Death, a plague that’s overtaken their town. One night, the Prince holds a masquerade ball, decorating each room a different shade: blue, green purple, orange, white, and violet. And such was the colour palette of this collection. The clothes resembled ones you might find inside the world of Arthurian romances, with a bit of Jester sprinkled throughout. There were beret sleeves, Edwardian-style blouses, baroque fabric, and thigh-highs with aiguillette-like embroidery. For her SS18 collection, “Sod Walker”, Hanley referenced Van Gogh and the playwright George Bernard Shaw. For SS16, it was Marie Antoinette — specifically, the time in her life when she enjoyed dressing up as a peasant.
However what sets Hanley apart isn’t merely her ability to conjure moments in history and literature that feel so remote as to be new; to simply recreate clothes from a bygone era would be nothing to write home about. As Fury noted, “Wear a precise recreation of…a bustled dress of 1883…[and] you’d look a fool.” Rather, it’s her singular interpretations and renditions of these medieval, gothic, Edwardian styles that squarely place her clothes and aesthetic into a world unto themselves.
Her aesthetic is a composite of styles from the 17th century up to the early 20th century — styles that recall mythical figures from King Arthur’s reign, Shakespearean tales, and British folklore — seen through the lens of a modern-day, New York-raised, slightly cynical, but mostly just very chill hipster artist. The Lou Dallas universe paints a warped, almost perverse picture of classical romance — which, incidentally makes for an eerily accurate portrayal of the state of romance today.
Take a closer look at the baroque-style skirt, pleated with precision, from her AW18 collection, and you’ll notice it’s cut rather short — short enough to, dare I say, send an 18th-century princess to the guillotine. Or how about one of the Renaissance-style jackets from the same collection, which featured panels of snakeskin-printed fabric and was styled rather salaciously, with nothing underneath? Her SS18 collection included a corset, hanging from a stomach chain, that laced up a model’s thigh. There was your average 18th-century corseted bodice, complete with long sleeves, cut right below the breast and paired with an itty-bitty, low-slung mini. And those aforementioned thigh-highs? Each came in various shades that could only be described as earth tones — except dirtier — and with unfinished hems. “The result is a fusion, born from history but which could never have happened any time but today,” wrote Fury (he was referring to a Vivienne Westwood piece, but it’s equally true of Hanley’s collections).
And the overall effect is transformative. Hanley’s designs transport you not merely to another decade, but to another world. Slip on one of her corseted, lace-up, bell-sleeved, dirndl-like dresses, and you may find yourself confusing that man chasing after you, waving the metro card you just accidentally dropped, for Lancelot himself, willing to risk life and limb for his beloved. But then you look down and remember — wait, I’m not wearing shoes. Also, my toes are sticking out of my socks. And you realise this is not some romantic fairytale, it’s the world of Lou Dallas — and that man chasing after you has no greater intention than to help you out.
