Image Courtesy of José Cuevas.
Birthing ideas from her bedroom to now having her own studio, growth is an integrated part of life, also affecting Olivia Ballard and her eponymous label. At the core of her clothing brand stands accentuating the intricacies of the human body; her designs functions as a second skin for all genders and ages. Now, with her second runway show, the up and coming label from the New Yorker- turned-Berliner dives into new spheres, calling out for slowness and reinvention while still exploring how her main subject — the body — shapes form, life and individuality.
On Thursday July 13th, Flussbad Berlin transformed into a space of harmonizing different physicalities and identities. Brought into life during the Weimar-era, the then public facility serves as a welcoming ground for creatives today. Surrounded by the neo-brutalist facade conceptualized by Arno Branlhuber, each Olivia Ballard look of this season finds its way out of the building, strutting around the property and through the small garden where the centerpiece of the show is located; a curated table set piece wrapped in what seems like a creme-colored tarpaulin, designed jointly between Matthew Bianchi, Be Assembly, and Table Farrah.
Image Courtesy of José Cuevas.
An upbeat techno track builds the interlude to the collection as the first models step out. The beginning of the show is very much Olivia Ballard-coded, colourwise at least. Black, white and shades of brown dominate the runway, the neutrality of it all automatically setting the focus on the shape of the garments. Though the body still clearly stands in the center of Olivia Ballard’s ideology with mesh fabrics exposing it, this season feels more sculptural. Asymmetric cuts mixed with some heavier fabrics highlight the young label’s step into new routes, studying the divisions between the human model in its sculptural surrounding.
As a yellow dress draped onto the wearer’s body steps into light, a subtle change of the moods notably appears. Unlike the other models who head back into the building after the runway, the splash of yellow walks directly to the mic stand. Out of the dark, the rest of the post-punk band cumgirl8 comes to the front to play fractions of their discography in custom Olivia Ballard dresses, erasing the divisions of fashion and music while inviting the crowd into an immersive experience.
Image Courtesy of José Cuevas.
After their small session, the brightened mood is translated to the clothes. Now, pastel shades are overshadowing the previous neutral tones. Prints can be found in the mesh pieces, pulling inspiration from the oil paintings of Hanae Moreno whose art depicts what it means to occupy a space with a human body, all aligning with this collection’s theme. Her art also translates to the makeup that is mimicking the colour blocks of each painting and strokes of a paint brush, also picking up on the pastel shades in the garments.
The final look sets everything back to black. A stripped down ball gown with its visible metal cage under sheer black fabric ultimately underlines the start into something new, though the tension of breaking into new directions has already been building up throughout the whole collection. It is a reinvented ball gown with no tulle hiding the body but rather exposing it. The last dress seems like a small message sent from Olivia, a reassurance that evolvement doesn’t mean a farewell and with all, the designer still stays true to her core value of not hiding the body — Olivia Ballard still masters the art of highlighting the beauty in each one.
Image Courtesy of José Cuevas.