Before I go on posting about students from the Swiss school whose name knows no end, I thought I'd better post about the one show at Polish fashion week (a.k.a. FashionPhilosophy) that I am always sad to miss. Konrad Parol presented his A/W 11/12 'Les Mercenaires' collection a week ago (at the same great venue as last time), and I was waiting for a full set of photos to be posted on his Facebook before I posted about the show. They're still not all up (there's one knitted look in particular missing), but I'll feel like I've missed the boat if I wait any longer. But so. This collection didn't click with me as a whole, though that is quite largely in part because I loved Konrad's S/S 11 'Ember' collection so much, and perhaps because I can't make any immediate literary connections to 'Les Mercenaires'. Also, there's a fair amount of leather used, and the look of the open jacket with the low cut neckline that becomes the lapels kind of made me cringe (below left). It just seems like an injury waiting to happen to those completely useless anatomical structures on men, especially if the wearer went to a dance party or something without putting a shirt on underneath. The closed version (featuring Konrad's signature hood/cape look; below right), however, is much much better for all involved.
Having said all that (and my apologies, Konrad, for not loving it all!), I do very much like a few things about/in the collection. First of all, I've been saying from the start that I wanted to wear Konrad's menswear, so it's interesting to see actual womenswear in his collection and female models in his show. Second, it's great to see Konrad go into the realm of knitwear. In fact, these are probably my favorite pieces from the collection (click on the photos twice to see the details of these chunky knits). I need to ask him if he knits those himself...
Third, the colour palette is great, with comforting blacks and greys accented by a bit of pumpkin orange, which is very fitting for an A/W collection. And lastly, but most importantly, I love love love the pants, both those extremely comfy looking ones on the female model below, and those paneled zip up skinny pants seen on the guys throughout the presentation (especially when styled with the grey socks overtop and the black Dr. Martens). But, then again, that's to be expected.
(Photos by Michał Tuliński/Moda Forte)
