Review of Egonlab Fall 2023 Men’s Fashion Show
Punk’s Not Dead
By Mark Wittmer
Wearing their love for the late great Vivienne Westwood on their tattered, well-tailored sleeve, Egonlab’s creative duo of Florentin Glémarec and Kevin Nompeix furthered their foray through underground fashion with an exciting balance of ferocity and optimism.
Appropriately lit by the greasy golden glow of Victorian streetlights, the collection confidently continued Egonlab’s glam-trash club-punk soiree.
Into their solid foundation of high-low layering, kink positivity, and cultish cool, Glémarec and Nompeix introduce some reflections on contemporary fashion shifts as well as a look back. Any fashion designer interested in the punk scene will of course be mourning the huge loss of the legendary Vivienne Westwood, but tonight Egonlab felt especially tuned into her legacy. 70s London punk met Victorian street urchin as plaids, long knit scarves, and thrashed denim met motorcycle hats and pre-moldered sweaters.
Westwood isn’t the only influence detectable here; we can tell Glémarec and Nompeix look to the dramatic tailoring of McQueen and the subverted romanticism of Alessandro Michele, but the way they combine references and have a strong sense of cut makes for a flavor all their own. That such a young brand already has what might be called a signature silhouette that comes to mind when we think of the brand, and that makes us think of the brand when we see it – Egonlab’s is a cropped top, hunched shoulders, high waist, and flared below – is an impressive feat.
Double dropped-waist black leather paints with upper-thigh slits feel Berghain-ready, but become more interesting when they reappear as over-washed jeans or as part of a check suit. A few moments of barbiecore brightness are subverted by dominatrix-y boots with corresponding shorts, and which together read like interrupted pantaboots. Floral prints formed unexpected moments of poppy color among the grittier looks.
The upper crust is invited to party with these art school students who shop in the lost and found as dramatically exaggerated suiting or lush faux fur coats work their way through. The final, tinsel-y coat suggest a party of glitter and shine while sending off a porcupine-like message of “don’t touch!” – a warning repeated by the spike collars, which were intriguingly pared with softer pieces like a floral dress or some camp shirts beautifully printed with modernist painting.
As standoffish and edgy as its characters might seem, Egonlab’s world is about acceptance and inclusion. It is combative, yet optimistic. At once eclectic and sharply focused, the brand’s vision scrapes together the outcast and the elevated of the past and the present to imagine a new sort of subcultural revolution.