Gareth Pugh spring 2019

I see this young man as I saw McQueen; he is a chameleon. He is a brilliant technician/designer while he explores and expands the vocabulary of fashion with each new collection; there is excitement and there is awe.

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The collections are not continuations of one another but instead totally different and almost outrageous in their content, sometimes, the clothes are frightening, they almost hit you with a sledge hammer and yet within these extreme catwalk shows there is Gareth Pugh the technician front and center, the designer, the one who shoves, not pushes, the envelope over the edge and yet he mutli talented enough to show a collection that is as slick as the late YSL or as insane as any other London designer.

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By no means is this a commercial collection but by no means should this collection be cast aside or dismissed as just another wet dream design school project  of some no talent, 2 bit designer. He is visionary, he is limitless and he sees fashion in a way that is beyond most of our levels of comprehension and yet it all makes sense. He chases no trends, he has no it bag, he has no scent but he has the creative spirit and intelligence to send a message to his audience and shows us fashion is not always within our comfort zone. 

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He is one of the few that I  follow who most will think is sheer insanity on my part but sometimes it’s just not about who wears what and where; there is a genius  in his work that few have ever possessed or come close to. For me he is the future of fashion in its purest sense.

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If fashion has become a source of entertainment then Gareth Pugh is an award winner.

Gareth Pugh ... fall 2018 LFW

Having followed him every season since his start it always delights me when one of his collections is especially significant.  His current collection is a display of his extreme skills and talents. This is a young man who understands fashion, not so much the wearability or salability aspects to a great degree but the fantasy, the spectacle and the glory of fashion. No matter the back story just look at the freakin clothes… they are amazing… maybe even astounding. He is artist, designer, technician, and visionary.

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This was no absurd gratuitous display of exaggeration (MJ) to engender shock and awe but rather a presentation of his vision but in varying degrees from the almost parody of the Bob Mackie/Carol Burnett/  Scarlett O’Hara complete with curtain rod shoulder line to the slickest, sexiest and most incredible and  meticulously rendered of creations.  The leopard and the patent pieces are unquestionably statement enough but it is with the pinstripes, leathers and worsted gray that this young man shows his versatility and his repertoire of endless possibilities ... to me he is one of the most,  if not the most,  promising and gifted of the young crop of designers of his generation.

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He is in every sense a créateur, a designer ... the clothes appear to be impeccably and flawlessly made.. they have an edge.. They have a chic about them .. He is a tailor, a dressmaker and a full on craftsman. 

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I was recently criticized for supposedly demeaning young talent ...let me point out that even day one Gareth Pugh brought something incredible to the table ... it was outrageous, it wasn’t me too and he has evolved with ups and downs in a variety of incarnations but it was all his and it was quite obvious to me that he was on a mission to change how we see fashion and show the world the his powers that he possessed. 

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So like it or not ... BRAVO Gareth Pugh for one more collection that makes fashion worth being part of and for not being one of the sheep!

Gareth Pugh spring 2018 LFW

Gareth Pugh as a collection is everything I dislike about the business of fashion and everything I adore and admire about the art and craft of fashion. It is no secret that I am a great fan of this designer despite the theatricality of his collections … which is a good deal of the times. The attraction is that this is a designer who designs. He is one of the most creative and skilled designers of his generation ... Maybe he is THE most!

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The construction is a marvel. The abilities are beyond. Do I really understand it… well yes and no. He has a message and he sends it out loudly but not many can really definitively decipher that message unless they get to read a press release.

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This season it was all about his film that he did with Nick Knight and others. In my opinions it is just astounding on every level. I am no cinematic connoisseur but if I watched it in total then it clearly had my attention. The link is attached below******* 

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Pugh is both futurist and traditionalist. What allows him to be both is the skillset which is front and center coupled with an inexhaustible imagination married to a landscape of fashion knowledge. This is not about trend, not about can you top this... This is about Him... HIS message... HIS concept brought to life ... Maybe he is the reason why we should still should believe that fashion is alive and well. 

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Think of it this way, these are 21^st century editorial clothes which far outshine those whose presence is ubiquitous merely as a quid pro quo for advertising dollars. These are not thrift store retreads, these clothes speak to the vocabulary of brilliant designer and quite possibly the future of fashion.

************ http://showstudio.com/project/gareth_pugh_s_s_18************

Gareth Pugh spring 2017 London

The question here is simply can you mentally subtract the theatrics and focus on just the clothes? Without a doubt the hyper visual accessories can detract from the main even which is clothes but the disciplined eye can easily see that Pugh is a designer to be reckoned with and not a fly by night designer sewing in his basement.

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To me, Pugh is a top shelf shelf designer who is excessively well trained in the art and craft of fashion as well in the design and merchantability of fashion. Once the stage effects and antics are stripped away, you are left with clothes of extreme beauty on many levels. Without reservation these clothes are not for everyone and will appeal to a very few but the young man is constantly evolving and not recreating himself season after season.  There’s that catch phrase again “designers who design.”

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The optical, graphic and geometric pieces, the softest of chiffon, the rigidity of the collaged metallic, they all play off each other and against each other to create an excitement that is genuine rather than forced. Even the silhouettes run the gamut from the hardest of tailoring to the softest of flou. Personally a couple of big favorites were the white hard edged pantsuit with purple scarf, the graphic djellabas and caftans and even a couple of fabulous skirts. 

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Pugh is a man of surprises for sure and he has come a long way from clothes that could only be seen as costumes rather than wearable clothes. These are clothes for the most discerning if not for those who just curate their wardrobes in the same way that an art collector curates their art collection.