Vetements Fall 2016 Collection 

Demna Gvasalia tries to inject the fashion industry with styles that reflect a youthful, passionate and rebellious energy. Many of her designs are instantly recognizable as having taken inspiration from the 90s and the unique culture of the youth of this decade. She also has embellished these classic looks and exaggerated or diluted them, for example taking school outfits and enlarging shoulder pads or adding slogans of adult references, and by doing this manages to create a diverse collection of designs that embody the spirit of youth. The transition of teen to adult is always a difficult time, and the culture of the 90s was partially about rejecting a world of suits and money to embrace the music, drugs and rave scenes. Gvasalia is trying to reinvigorate the world of fashion and by incorporating 90s fashion into her collections, hopes this energy will be visible in her styles. 

Above: Vetements Fall 2016 orange oversized bomber jacket look.


This orange oversized jacket is similar to that seen worn in Human Traffic, a 90s film about young adults all trying to work out how to balance the need to party and forget the boredom of work with the responsibilities of adult life. Thick bomber and puffer jackets are a key symbol of 90s and early 2000s fashion, and this shows Gvasalia trying to incorporate the restlessness and vibrance of youth along with a dissatisfaction with ‘the ordinary’ into her collection. 

Above: Koop's rap scene in the store wearing orange puffer jacket in Human Traffic.


Baggy clothes are another staple of the 90s, very much due to their ill fit which reflects a disregard and rebellion against the mainstream. By choosing to wear the wrong size clothing, 90s youth could show that they weren’t allowing themselves to follow paths that in their eyes were flawed. By recreating and exaggerating this look, Gvasalia also gives an impression of disrespect towards standard fashion in much the same way. Combining baggy clothes with layering items in unconventional ways is another example of this, showing that there are other ways invigorate existing styles by borrowing large amounts of inspiration from 90s fashion. The look below reminded of 90s skater looks with the baggy boyish clothing and snapback worn on a female, similar to the second photo below of two skater girls Fall 1997 catalog 'Alloy' both wearing oversized menswear. This catalog was for those skatergirls who didn't have a big brother to steal clothes from.



Above: Vetements Fall 2016 baggy layered look.

Above: Two skatergirls in Alloy 1997 Fall catalog.

Turtlenecks and high neck tops were also widely considered fashionable in 90s youth culture, and Gvasalia displays a number of these in her looks. They’re associated with intellect and even physically raise the wearers chin, a global signifier of dominance. This can be closely associated with her key theme of injecting a new wave of fashion into the industry by reflecting a headstrong attitude and an apparent higher knowledge. It’s another key example of how she has used the values and attitudes of 90s youth culture to create a striking and bold collection of designs. This collection also featured a number of windbreakers. Practical garments such as these show an aspect of preperation, that the wearer is expecting to be caught in harsh conditions and is signifier of strength and resiliance against harsh conditions. These were very popular in the 90s and were worn by many skaters and hip hop artists. They were also typically worn by people who would go to raves or festivals. The second image below shows a scene from Kevin And Perry Go Large where both Kevin on the left is wearing a pullover windbreaker similar to style to the Vetements look below.

Above: Vetements Fall 2016 windbreaker looks.

Above: Kevin And Perry Go Large 2000 British Teen Comedy Film.