The Walk Through at Louise Goldin
If Christopher Kane was inspired by The Flintstones, Louise Goldin took Judy Jetson as her heroine, spinning us on a breathtaking, awe-inspiring journey into outer space. Inspired by satellite views of the earth through remote sensing (that old chestnut), Goldin's research pushed her aesthetic towards NASA-esque shapes that abstract away from the body and an icy palette of clinical white, NHS blue and the palest hint of fleshy pink. A development from last season's Neo-Nanook eskimos, Goldin again looked forwards to a Brave New (fashion) World that for once seemed all of that without lapsing into the unbelieavably (and unwearably) conceptual. Her spikey paler-than-pale disco-futurism may have had roots in the sixties (apparently a major theme this season), but her interpretation was completely contemporary and even visionary. The technique required to make these clothes was extraordinary, as were the visual effects she achieved: her own description of Swarovski-crystal strewn patterns casting a 'phosphorescent light' over fleshy bodysuits was ample summary for the eerie vision of models glowing with a light that truly seemed otherworldly. Her use of print was also incredible: two layers of clinical organza printed with satellitte-derived images of earth managed to move and morph across the body, creating a cataract-blurred, maleable vision of a landscape in fluctuating orbit. Sometimes, it doesn't feel as if Louise Goldin gets her fair dues. Perhaps this is connected with knitwear, oft-perceived as the knit-one purl-one pursuit of bedridden grandmothers rather than a unique fashion technique offering designer the almost-unique opportunity to craft the very textile their clothes are constructed from. Last season, her show was stand-out, This season, it was sensational. Her talent is huge and hopefully she's about to go deservedly stellar.
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