Telfar AW19.
When most people think of the “all-American” fashion brand, they think of Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, and Tommy Hilfiger, but now there’s a new generation coming through. Designers like Telfar Clemens are picking up the torch and redefining what American style is through their own personal and frequently politically-fuelled narratives.
Telfar presented an AW19 collection steeped in the familiar tropes of American history. But while the AW19 show, entitled Country, celebrated America, it refused to smooth over the cracks of the American dream with blind patriotism, and instead took a more modern approach — one that finds strength in contradictions and talks frankly about the myriad problems facing the American nation. Clemens chose to partner with iconic American brands like Budweiser and White Castle, showing his affection for the cheap thrills of the land of the free, but he also chimed in on the political climate with his burnt-out American flag backdrop and a forthright Black Lives Matter T-shirt.
Flag burning and the Black Lives Matter movement are two issues that divide Americans for the same reason: the debate over what is the correct way to protest policies and norms in a country, while still being respectful of the men and women who die to protect it. In this take, Clemens regards the flag as a symbol of the country in its complicated pieces – not a physical manifestation of the sacrifices made by the armed forces – it leaves room to re-imagine the flag and use it as a means to challenge the country to be better in regards to issues like police brutality and mass incarceration that affect people of colour at a much higher rate.
The Telfar version of America reflects the growing diversity that is not only part of the country’s composition, but is also responsible for its successes. Being American once meant assimilation. Immigrants were famously renamed at Ellis Island before they could join the “new world” – and the branding stuck. When Ralph Lifshitz, the child of Jewish immigrants, created his brand based on aspirational American style in the 1960s, it was under the last name, Lauren. But the landscape has opened up and people are now ready to for a multi-dimensional view of what the US is and who can be apart of it. Telfar borrowed from cowboy imagery, boldly employing denim, chaps, and large belt buckles throughout the collection. Elsewhere, he made a subtle nod to the abolitionist movement with scarves in-built into cotton sleeves. Still, the designer stuck true to his streetwear aesthetic with logo sweatshirts and asymmetrical crop tops keeping the showcase cool and desirable.
Like his outstanding SS19 show, this season’s offering transitioned from catwalk to party with performances by DJ Ashland Mine of Total Freedom, blues musician Robert Randolph, R&B vocalist Oyinda, and rock band Ho99o9, as well as rappers Butch Dawson and Na-Kel Smith. While the music did not feature the twang usually associated with the country music genre, Telfar challenged the audience to think of music by Americans as “country music”.
The Telfar show comes amid a changing tide at New York Fashion Week, with many designers presenting a different view of not just what the fashion week can be and who can present (Pierre Davis, for example, became the first transgender designer to show at this year’s edition, and Harlem’s Fashion Row was also added to the calendar) but a changing vision of America too.
Check out the looks from the show below:
All photos courtesy of Telfar.