LUEDER has been manifesting that healing energy for SS24, going on an unexpected journey but ultimately standing firm ground in front of adversity. The collection titled “Journeyman” was inspired by Kevin Reynolds’ Waterworld where even a post-apocalyptic world doesn’t knock its characters down.
Global warming and the rise of sea levels is a prominent theme in Waterworld, something designer Marie Lueder addresses in this collection. “We wanted to address the needed action to protect the planet with an optimistic and constructive approach and always looking at ‘90s fiction and also dystopian movies,” Lueder tells us as she invited Culted to her studio to preview her collection.
While dystopian movies often leave you feeling hopeless, Lueder aims to achieve the opposite. One way she did this was by taking inspiration from neo-pagan folk dress with tailored pieces reminiscent of mediaeval times. “I come from a background of tailoring,” she explains, a skill she used to create shield-like pieces like the striped grey hooded jacket that zips all the way to the model’s face, leaving only their eyes exposed.
Every good shield, physical or spiritual, should make you feel supported. LUEDER’s heavy use of spiralling lines seen stitched on jackets and trousers. Lueder wanted the wearer to feel “hugged and supported,” and considering the talks that were taking place at her presentation space at the Ginny on Frederick gallery where visitors could try on the clothing, her wants were realised.
Talismans in silver were scattered throughout the collection, stitched onto garments as a good luck charm to get the wearer through their journey, no matter how treacherous. These were made in collaboration with artist Thomas P. Grogan, the fourth collaboration the two have done. The two met at the Royal College of Arts and bonded over the fact that they “just think very similarly,” according to Lueder.
The threat posed by global warming, whether shown in fictional films that inspired Lueder or what is actually happening in our own world, is very real and the industry is certainly not helping. Lueder made the conscious decision to primarily use deadstock fabric, regenerated nylon from ocean waste on a pair of iridescent red trousers with hints of green and yellow hues, and having most of the collection produced in the UK.
Accompanying the collection and LFW presentation, LUEDER has released the SS24 campaign which sees models posing in front of a car crash. The visuals for this one was inspired by the music video to what Lueder calls a “survivor song,” UNKLE’s Rabbit In Your Headlights. In this video, French actor Denis Lavant gets run over by oncoming traffic, but finds strength within not to be knocked down. This type of inhuman superpowers is what LUEDER inspired through its lookbook, embracing the fact that “your mind needs super powers to move on.”
In the end, LUEDER’s SS24 journey isn’t about a destination, but the mental strength to overcome any hurdles that may be encountered. At least with this collection, LUEDER offers your outer layer armour supporting and strengthening your inner spiritual shield.
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