Photography by Christopher Dadey
REVOLUTION
SIBLING – SPRING/SUMMER 2013 MEN
SIBLING riots this season, focusing on turbulence motivated towards change. If the kids are united, then we’ll never be divided.
Contemporary sportswear is the language, inspired by American artist Kehinde Wiley, who portrays hip-hop protagonists in a renaissance style.
Reflecting the beat of our capital and SIBLING’s own base, cultures mix and create new hybrids: oversized Ratus knitted sleeveless sweatshirts, Arabesque baseball pants, Underground x SIBLING flattened-back Souk Creepers and running shorts layered over leggings are all adapted from looks seen worn around the Bethnal Green Road (in East London).
The uniform of the young rebel; berets by Noel Stewart Millinery (introducing his first menswear line) mix Paris ’68 via Action Man and Public Enemy’s taste in headgear with Hawthorn and Heaney gold-work of traditional Islamic floral embroideries.
Gladiatorial Bahir boleros are edged in raffia and the Yahya MA-1 jacket is encrusted with giant square sequins.
A four sleeved top is both a distortion of a simple T-shirt and a reference back to SIBLING’s deviant silhouette, the knit pattern mimicking the fabric of a football kit, the double arms a trompe l’oeil thrown on cardigan. Delicate textures throughout are accented with fluro pink tipped with gold lurex rib.
A Toile de Jouy of undervalued urban life is created, with references to Pure Evil’s pearly king and Banksy’s telephone box amongst the tension printed in blue across joggers, vests and a vast sleeveless hoodie.
Lord of the Flies has shown that any nebulous group forms a hierarchy thus the pure, all-white colour palette is interspersed with total-gold looks.
(Words Dean Mayo Davies)