Photos – Olivier Claisse ©
Inspired by the ‘Club Kid’ era that flourished during the late 80’s and early 90’s, the UNDERAGE SS19 collection is a nod to absurdity and transformation. It celebrates a much-loved culture that is currently repeating itself within the youth psyche and makes it relevant by mixing these iconic ideals with modern casual wear.
The collection is titled ‘Lucid Dreams’ in which there is a psychedelic and vibrant undertone to each look, yet the garments have a pop sensibility. Quiet sexual images can be discovered within the prints and bold colours, they have been subtly placed there to encourage the wearers to embrace their inner desires and set themselves free.
The Lucid Dream that UNDERAGE envisions is one where members of society are prisoners to their own notions of identity and much of the collection is based on Erik Erikson’s ‘Four stages of the identity crisis’.
While distressed denim may be ubiquitous, the collection approaches the fabric in a new manner. Denim mixed with shirting and tailored fabrics, embroidery and bright colours inspires new possibilities in the distressed denim trend. With new ways of manipulating fabrics, UNDERAGE is considering if the future of fashion can enhance consumer’s liberation from identity categorisation imposed on them, by themselves.
Empowering womenswear with an androgynous feel, ‘transformation’ is an important word to UNDERAGE this season, not only because of the collection’s desire to disrupt the conventional way that women feel in clothes but also for the way that the collection deconstructs day-wear and recreates it again with an aspect of it completely reimagined.
