Hard Food: a starchy accompaniment to a typical Jamaican meal, comprising boiled yam, plantain and dumplings. Named for its formal integrality and its relatively toughness prior to preparation, when served, the experience of eating hard food is, well, the opposite of what its name implies. For her sophomore Paris presentation, Bianca Saunders riffs on this duality of external appearances and interior reality, all while reinterrogating and reframing the brand’s nuanced technical signatures.
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A constant for the brand, tailored outerwear in subtly skewed proportions lay a foundation for the collection. Familiar pieces like the Lexxus jacket and convex hemmed bomber – both of which feature Bianca’s hallmark draped shoulder – return in coin green trompe l’oeil corduroy leather, creating a sensorial clash of sight and touch. Elsewhere, an elongated coat in bonded gabardine turns around to reveal a softer side, with backs cut from silky jacquards. A similar dualism informs swirl-seamed denim trousers, which strike a harmony of exacting structure and summery floatiness.
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A breezy ease informs layered, reversible long-sleeved twinsets, with split hems flicking open to reveal peeks of contrasting tones, and the petrol-y dapple of iridescent jacquard separates and warped grid printed crepe nod to Bianca’s SS22 collection, creating the illusion of living, liquid surfaces. Slouchily draped grainy lurex knit pullovers have seemingly wrapped and reattached necklines –when worn, they glint like television static, recalling VHS films of 80s dancehall parties.
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A distinct hand-feel informs garments constructed to appear as if they were moulded to the body – the shoulder-lines of t-shirts – printed with hand-assembled collages of recipes for hard food – are shaped by darts that guide the fabric across the natural contour of the shoulder, while the necks of fine-ribbed knit vests are cut subtly askew, as if playfully tugged aside. The season’s signature trouser features a stiff bonded wool front and a domed, gathered back in lightweight cotton, striking a curious balance between a clean finish and a decorative exuberance. An otherwise inconspicuous blazer features two elegant swooping drapes, suggesting considered manipulation rather than hasty buttoning up.
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These pieces embody a value at the brand’s core – the elevation of quotidian staples through considered adjustments. Turtlenecks and wide-leg trousers are cut from satins in shimmering scarlet, sky blue and sunset orange, elevating everyday-wear to red-carpet status. Bags in canvas and turquoise leather echo the crumpled art folders Bianca once toted about during her student days, while a humble ballet flat is reimagined in supple lambskin and given a blockish flat sole.
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This season also sees the debut of pieces from Bianca’s recently announced partnership with leather experts Ecco, as part of the newly formed AT-Kollektive. An expression of Ecco’s leather savoir-faire and Bianca Saunders’ idiosyncratic design language, the collaborative capsule’s shoes and bags speak to the brand’s subtle, experimental flair.
Written by Mahoro Seward
