Jean-Paul Knott: Goth On The Horizon
By: Timothy Hagy
Photos by: Javier Mateo
Paris, Oct 5, 2001/ FW/ --- The location was the heart of the Marais - an old market
refinished with parquet wood floors, and bathed in golden stage lighting.
The Belgian designer was one of an increasing number of young experimentalists showing in
Paris, and will present his first collection for Féraud next Wednesday.
The show was hard hitting, and accompanied by a heavy metal soundtrack.
Before a young and bohemian crowd, the models made there way around a labyrinth,
crisscrossing at a diagonal, and circumventing support columns.
The trajectory was so confusing that one girl lost her way completely, another made a
continuous loop for about 5 minutes, and then the single male short-changed the left
side entirely, before heading backstage.
Well, all of that could have been fun - save for the fact that the show itself never firmly
gelled, and worse, the unpolished collection could suggest yet another experimental designer
gone awry.
The clothes had a very young look, dominated by black and white, and whipped along by not
so subtle references to Goth.
Models trooped down the runway smoking cigarettes, eyes blackened with makeup.
There was a fine studded belt that would have looked right in place at a Harley Davidson
convention, as well as some very masculine looking pants.
Dresses took on an innovative design, painfully resembling a potato sack.
There were nonetheless high points, as in white trenches worn over black tights, and a
fine redingote modeled by the sole male.
In the end, the applause on the sound track fortunately covered the lack thereof from
the live audience.
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