Spring-Summer 2023, SOLID HOMME charges its distinct Bauhaus aesthetic with a sartorial spin on the properties of artifcial light. Drawing inspiration from a body of contemporary artists specialising in light art and kinetics, the collection harmonises colour, movement, and illusion to produce the impression of intangibility perfect for spring-summer, counterbalanced by the season’s earthy tones and clean, modern silhouettes.
Mixed cotton nylon fabric, with a lightweight airy feel, makes its appearance in cropped jackets, pants, and maxi-windbreakers with integrated hoods. In favour of a sottened, sun-bleached look, denim is treated with washed or pigmented dyeing processes. Digital printing, used to replicate a relaxing cloud motif, is also responsible for the dégradé reiterated across the collection, arguably most striking in the knitwear. Defned by the oversized top ft and thigh-high short, the SS23 silhouette fnds adjustable tailoring in the form of buckles, snaps, or elastic at the back of the waist. Extended length also trends the collection, jackets, polo shirts, and knitwear reach ankle-length, while leather accessories even trail the foor. Belts over hoodies rework the cinched-waist silhouette, with additional straps as armbands providing further shaping. Unifying the collection, the SS23 key colours of Digital Lavender, Blue Iris, Malibu Blue, and Neon Yellow brighten bucket hats down to footwear.
With characteristic Surrealist fair, the SS23 set design dis-locates its audience within the familiarity of its venue, the Palais de Tokyo’s Saut du Loup. Inspired by a tradition still practiced in Korean households, SOLID HOMME invited its guests to sit upon foor cushions. Dotting the space in a seemingly arbitrary confguration, their lower bodies are lightly submerged by a thin fog.
The impact lies in its simplicity and immediacy, whereby guests–by virtue of being thoroughly immersed–become themselves part of the performance. Orange film lining the windows drives the dreamscape further, saturating both exterior world and interior space with warm-toned light— a visual radiance that is paralleled aurally in the SS23 music, helmed by a live harmonicist sat in the assembly. Observed from a low-angle, models cut straight through the audience as if walking on clouds, energising the venue with a full spectral order.