by Giorgia Crescia
Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood presents the new Spring Summer 2020 collection, inspired by the links between man and man, nature and man, the links between everything and everyone.
Rock me Amadeus is the name of the new line; the first inspiration, as the designer says, is the image of a fifties pin-up, photographed from below, whose figure seems to stay in the sky, surrounded by cotton balls that are thrown at her.
Dresses that glide along the body, shirts that go down the sides until they touch the ground; obviously wearable in different ways, this is the idea of Andreas Konthaler.
In collaboration with Wastmark, the designer collects inventories from the best Italian companies; reduces, reuses and rethinks, this is the engine for the Rock me Amadeus line.
The ideas of recycling, reuse, respect the environment, anti-consumerism have always been at the center of the collections of Vivienne Westwood, known not only as a designer but also as an activist promoting a cleaner world; also Andreas Kronthaler in his work for the brand has shown his support for this strong green campaign and a great sensitivity and innovation.
Another important inspiration of the collection comes from the image of street vendors walking with their merchandise on display leaning on the body, from here the designer certainly borrowed the idea of large draperies of cloth hanging on the models on the catwalk.
Forms that explode in infinite possibilities catch the eye of the people; shoulders, padded hips, large hats, umbrellas and much more, all protected and secured by rigid bodices that act as a support, a bit like those that could be admired in the Austria of the seventeenth century but surrounded by drapes that recall those in Venus by Botticelli.
For the second season the collaboration saw Ethical Fashion Initiative as protagonist with the use of hand-made fabrics in Mali and dyed in Bogolan, Made of Land.
There is a revisitation of the Animal Toe shoes with a renewed heel, a Mozart style heel. Eighteenth-century hairstyles, worn by young apprentices. The collection turns into a historical and geographical fable of the human race.
Another aspect that shows us the respect and love of the designer and the brand for the world and for the whole life that populates it is that the whole line respects the fauna and the flora and above all it is dedicated to the struggle for the protection of the tiger of Sumatra.
The Sumatran tiger is the smallest subspecies still existing that lives on the homonymous island, in protected areas and counts 400-500 specimens. The extinction of this and all tigers is due to the decrease in habitat, caused by the growth of urban centers and above all by hunting; in the oriental culture the products derived from the tiger have a high value; these products are then sold in the illegal markets for skins and bones.
Surely in the new collection by Andreas Konthaler for Vivienne Westwood we find oversized shoulder pads and headgear, as well as the enormous drapery volumes, transparencies, renaissance bodices and shoes, sparkling colors and very high lives but the message that emerges from this line goes far beyond the simple packaging of clothes, the sense is that of an awareness that covers all fields, without clichés, an awareness that can spur the man to reuse rather than consumption, without having to give up taste or eccentricity with even references to history, in summary, the brand tries to offer us a broader vision, where man is in close contact with nature and its needs.
