JW Anderson challenges permanence of objects through theatre for SS23.
In a parallel to his universe, Jonathan Anderson hones in on his theatre school past, to usher in a new sense of protagonists. Drawing upon his auditions to Julliard in the 1990s, the designer was drawn to the surrealist play of The Pitchfork Disney, whose nature of dramatism has been open to multiple interpretations about social issues and disturbances, questioning the state of reality.
Much like a director, Anderson orchestrated his characters in a manner that rejects societal context, and ushers in a completely open-ended definition. As models walked with striped shirts wrapped around bike handlebars, there was a questioning of the permanence of objects - how, what and who defines what we see. An overall feeling of rebellion, Anderson used distressed and oversized denim to play around with exaggerating shapes, as it complemented cut-out shirts with hinges attached at the front, finished off with fake glove sleeves that elongate the arms dramatically, nodding further to the surrealism nature of theatre.
As the curtains closed on his show in Milan, the uniquely curious nature of Jonathan Anderson brought out a fresh sense of fashion’s role as a form of art, and its impact on the public nowadays. By painting a world free from expectations, the designer is able to dive deeper, pushing the observation of society, similar like a curious methodologist, touching upon the human personification of life, and the meanings we give to it.
