Image Credit: A-COLD-WALL
Although showing for Milan Fashion Week, A-COLD-WALL’s designer Samuel Ross is still located in London, a confused city amidst the mystery of what this Brexit deal really means. For Ross, it means “the core of anarchy,” as he struggles to send over all his designs ready for the show, whilst some of his shoes did not make it in time.
The designer has often explored an apocalyptic future throughout his collections. However, Ross has decided to dial it back for his FW21 show. The collection is introduced with a series of all-white looks, which include a trench coat, a pleated sweater and a white button-up. The designer has described the looks to have a “more positive, optimistic spirit,” a feeling we all long for in these dire times.
The show is set primarily in a room containing a yellow-stained glass structure surrounded by green moss and rocks. The show also gives us backstage footage through what seems to be a night-vision camera. The music accompanying the show matches the mysterious yet youthful feel that A-COLD-WALL has set to determine.
In an attempt to strip down his show, Ross has also significantly reduced his show notes. Whilst his SS21 show notes were made up of a 45-page book, his FW21 was only accompanied by 10 words, which include portal, structure, mediate, forum, saturate, open, retreat, plural, omnist and reach. Ross has said he wishes to give “people space to enjoy [what we do] and interpret the collection in their own way.”
The designer has collaborated with the Scottish raincoat brand Mackintosh to create a display of coats, graphic tees and shirts described as a mix of A-COLD-WALL’s “21st-century heritage and [Mackintosh’s] 19th-century heritage.” Picky about his collaborators, Ross has chosen Mackintosh to deliver great quality products which will resonate with his long-devoted fans.
Alongside the 8 minute video which was live-streamed from Milan, A-COLD-WALL has released a digital experience on its website. Users are able to scroll through different looks, captured in still and moving format, as eerie, bass-heavy music and flashing lights imitate the feel of the show.
As unprecedented anxiety lingers over us, Samuel Ross has offered a pragmatic outlook on life as we currently experience it.
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