Transgressive fashion design - 4 radical designers expand the limits of latex

Latex is a paradoxical material. For decades, designers have been fascinated by the contradictory double effect of being both protective and banal and at the same time being associated with sensuality and subversive witness. Latex is like tightening a second skin; It is tight, sweaty and uncomfortable.

The waterproof Mackintosh rain coat , which was patented in Scotland in 1824, triggers a sensual reaction in many people despite its practically thought origin in gloves, gas masks and rubber boots. Thanks to a committed member of the Mackintosh Society , which was fascinated by the smell, the sound and stickiness of the synthetic piece of clothing, latex is now a main component of fetish clothing .

Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren sex in their 1970s boutique during the punk appropriation of BDSM clothing. Latex also has a transgressive presence in the history of haute couture , from catsuits from the space age of the cinema screen to the designs from Atsuko Kudo . The transforming ritual of putting on is intensified when you wear latex, which requires a shine, grease and powder.

The Pandemic collection of Studio FCLX with torn, black clothing showed in 2020 how remarkable and adaptable latex can be. In the same year, Naomi Campbell's pink latex gloves gained viral celebrity.

Meanwhile, the practically lively clothing of AGF Hydra the ability of the substance to go beyond the narrow limits of sexual or therapeutic.

Let us devote four designers to revive latex with gender -specific styles and environmentally friendly productions and thus break creative boundaries.

Atsuko Kudo

The Japanese designer Atsuko Kudo latex clothing since 2001. Refraining from latex tissue methods, filigree, folding, latex catsuit full body suits and distinctive prints are their specialty. In New York, Kudo founded her fashion company with the first latex runway show, at which Crystal Renn made the final appearance.

Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Dita von Teese, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Eva Mendes, Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Kelly Brook and Grace Jones have worn their clothes.

Hussein Chalayan, Cerruti, Vivienne Westwood and Fendi resorted to the latex designers. Nicola Formichetti and Kudo designed and produced the autumn/winter lady fashion 2011 by Mugler.

Kudo started working Lady Gaga At that time, Kudo created Gaga's Glastonbury-Performance outfit and the Elisabethan dress with the ruff of the herself made of red latex, which made headlines when she hit the Queen. The queen chose the same photo for her exhibition for the diamond anniversary of Windsor Castle. Later Kudo developed many of Gaga's most famous latex ensembles, including her "condominium" clothing designed by Mugler for AIDS education as well as countless films and stage presentations.

At the first UK Lingerie Awards, Atsuko Kudo was named the “most innovative brand of the year” .

Studio FCLX

studio FCLX based in Hackney Wick (Londen, GB) only started in 2018 with the production of streetwear from latex, it already caused a sensation in the industry of the TR Terms & Conditions Aren rubber articles. You want

Strengthen people outside of their social and gender -specific constructs and make fashion more gender -specific ”,

so fclx. According to the design, the designer collective is driven by the desire latex clothing beyond the fetish market. Your collection made of transparent fur coats, skinning shorts with leopard patterns, linden green marbled pants and lively short tops with a chain shirt is influenced by the club culture and the LGBTQ scene .

A departure from the characteristic lively color palette from FCLX was shown in the Pandemic collection . Classic black latex was the material of choice, and the collection confirmed the bizarre design approach of the studio with coats with fringed sleeves and flexible pants with push buttons as well as shiny black clothes that were as tense and torn as the restless atmosphere in the Coronage plagued year 2020.

Studio FCLX is a London-based fashion label specializing in handmade, one-of-a-kind accessories like studded harnesses and red latex berets, with a focus on environmental sustainability. Individuality and slow fashion are in the label's DNA.

AGF Hydra

In the computer -generated short film Hydra Cosmic Womb, an early, informal being hovered through an eerie underwater environment. The hydra archetype "Sustainability, craft and durability in a transpersonal future" is conveyed by meditative subtitles. The latex label and research project AGF Hydra , whose name "has many heads" , is one of his numerous work.

Hydra is about the possibility of collective growth within a higher consciousness ”,

So founder Anna Gloria Flores (Agf.). It includes VR, holistic therapy, immersive performance, moving images and trerms Terms & Conditions are artifacts. The phygital uniform is produced by AGF by manufacturing and chlorying latex, which creates a surface that is both adaptable and friction -free.

"A regenerative practice" describes AGF its meditative manufacturing process in an interview with the style and culture magazine Dazed . According to AGF, the elastic latex skins from Hydra act as an intermediary between body and its surroundings due to their adaptability, waterproofness and biological degradation. Hydra explores a reality in which latex design has turned into a regenerative activity and offers translucent, characteristic kimono jackets, cape overtakers that resemble a liquid, and even a dress that is tailored for a virtual baby yoda .

AW Brand Latex

With the founding of AW Brand Latex, Aidan Weiss fulfilled her layering dreams. When fashion designer New York City visited and witness, how the St. Mark's Punks rocked Latex casually, it became clear to her:

I had to know how this perfectly fitting, shimmering garment was made - and why it effectively increased my self -esteem - after I bought my first piece in the nearest sex shop in Manhattan. "

Weiss transformed her memories of Manhattan's Latex into its own brand, a bold statement that opposed her conservative fashion school in Philadelphia and her educators.

Starting in 2018 with The Basics , a line of elegant, shaped bodies and underwear, AW Brand Latex has developed into what it describes as a "romantic imagination" . In her later collections, Weiss underlines the bizarre and adaptable nature of latex with gumaged rubber ranks and tailor-made Madonna caps, which reinterpret historical costumes.

Ringing flower sets, removable princess sleeves and jeweled buckles are contrasted with delicate altrosa clothes and ruffles. In 2021, AW Brand Latex released a new Basics collection that was suitable for all body types.