The FW23 collection explores aesthetic contrast and contradiction to reflect the times we live in. Smartphone technology means that, more than ever, we connect with each other and make meaning through images and iconography. There is barely any meaningful separation between on- and off-screen life.
Philosopher Slavoj Žižek reminds us that we are living in a weird moment, when multiple catastrophes - global warming, pandemics, social tension, the prospect of full digital control of our thinking and the rise of extremism - are all competing for primacy. Which one will be our downfall? Or will we outrun them all? And what of the complete annihilation visited on numerous civilisations of the past: the Mayans, the Romans, even the dinosaurs. Is that where we are?
The planet is still here, after all, spinning on its axis and hurtling through space. So while FW23 examines the idea of Armageddon, it interprets it not as the final end, but more as a time when we’re suspended in uncertainty, when what awaits us could be total destruction or deliverance from it. But how do we dress for the occasion?
Let’s start with posture: this season, we’ve created the ‘bulldog’ shoulder, lending coats, shirting, knitwear, suits and jackets, the impression of bulk and forward movement. The wearer looks hunched but not defeated, the body language reflecting determination under pressure.
This roundness gives the shoulders movement rather than the static volume with which they’re usually rendered. It cuts into the chest and creates a sense of charging ahead, of purposeful hurriedness. Where fashion is attempting to shield itself from the reality of global crisis and war, seeking to comfort itself with nostalgia, the bulldog shape confronts the future without blinking – it’s an unequivocal symbol of pushing through disaster and ordeal instead of clinging to the bland comfort of denial. Forward movement is one of the collection’s recurring motifs, apparent in everything from the skirts and dresses in printed silks, to the fresco wools with crude pleating at the front, to the cowboy boots.
The same sense of movement and direction is evident in the denims with long trains at the back. A t-shirt from the collaboration with British sportswear brand Lonsdale states “Harder Faster”, because we keep moving through these strange times at logarithmic speed.
For FW23, all wardrobe staples are wryly reimagined. The humble hoodie is turned inside out and printed with bright digital fairies, giving this everyday item a fantasy twist to reflect the way that online anything is possible, the personal realities become malleable and mundanity can be transcended. Military camouflage is reinvented in bright pink to convey optimism. Turtlenecks in stretch material are printed with small squares mimicking phone screens, inviting passersby to see images as what sociologist Erving Goffman called the “frame”: the space where the self and the public role dynamically converge.
Images in this case are not simply reference materials or artefacts documenting trends but also the very medium through which the trends and identities, from cottage-core to sports-goth, are made possible. Images allow these identities to be articulated. JORDANLUCA FW23 examines apparent opposites, sameness and disparateness, chaos and order, and the way they interact. It’s an entire wardrobe, tipped out and reassembled into one show. It’s a snapshot of people who look different to each other but are unified by the shared purpose of staying in motion, heading forwards, resisting the temptation of stasis. It’s a whole day of people-watching, distilled into a collection.
Everything in FW23 is available in sizes spanning XS to XL. These garments are not genderless, gender-neutral or unisex – they dispense with reductive, outmoded categorisations. They are for people.
JORDANLUCA / LONSDALE FW23 marks the first collaboration with urban sportswear company Lonsdale. This is Lonsdale’s first ever partnership with a high-end fashion brand. We share their solidly London-centric, subversive, countercultural vision and their interest in cultural heritage.
The JORDANLUCA/LONSDALE capsule collection presents redesigned, reworked archive prints and pieces.
