#MilanFashionWeek – In an exquisite ode to the titillating chiaroscuro of Stanley Kubrick’s cinematic masterpiece, JW Anderson unveiled his Fall/Winter 2024 collection, steeped in the provocative ethos of “Eyes Wide Shut.” Erasing the boundaries between celluloid fiction and fabric reality, Jonathan Anderson confesses this marked his inaugural soiree into letting a film guide his sartorial narrative. “It’s a maiden voyage for me, to let cinema weave into the seams,” Anderson mused post-show, divulging his newfound fixation with Kubrickian art, courtesy of Christine Kubrick’s brushstrokes—a muse he meticulously incorporated into his latest designs.
The intertwining of art and attire blossomed when Anderson, enraptured by the covert artistry of Christine Kubrick, reached out to the nonagenarian artist this past summer in her Hertfordshire haven. Their collaboration? A series of knit jersey dresses that serve as Canvases of Christine, caressed with feminine forms and domestic vignettes right from her oeuvre—evoking the intimacy of her and Stanley’s shared life.
What loomed on the runway were wearable revelations—Jerseys that bore the essence of home with sketched poinsettias that flirt with the holiday splendour yet imbue a sense of subversive biomorphism, as Anderson admitted his aversion to their nearly noxious beauty. This Christmas motif plucked from the backdrop of Kubrick’s Yuletide thriller, wove together the narrative of on-screen drama with off-screen artistry.
Subversion, a theme as deeply interwoven in the fabric as it is in the film, manifested through an exploration of hosiery—a nod to the film’s charged atmosphere. Anderson’s models—men and women—paraded in a provocative pairing of tights over undergarments, championing the silhouette as both a second skin and a statement beyond the usual pantalone.
The collection deconstructed dimensions with an almost architectural hand—sylphlike cardigans and bloomers ballooned with audacious satin. Meanwhile, velvet blazers with shoulders architectured to bewildering heights sauntered alongside sweaters of preposterous proportions. The mundane was twisted, inflated, and animated with playfully excessive sleeves and trousers set to a volume that resonated through the room. Every step was a stroke of rebellion, from heels festooned with tassels to loafers boasting exaggerated embellishments.
JW Anderson’s show notes distilled the essence into three words: “Weird and perversely domestic.” Yet, amidst the audacious oddities and plush provocations, the collection maintained an air of approachability, a testament to Anderson’s sorcery—conjuring the radically imaginative into the sublimely mundane.
