Jay Ahr

JAY AHR – AUTUMN/WINTER 2013

‘It is not possible to live in this age if you don’t have a sense of many contradictory forces,’ once said illustrious architect Rem Koolhaas, a master at bold juxtapositions.

Inspired by his journeys emerging cities, founder Jonathan Riss grew a fascination for the frequent contrast between cutting-edge architecture and ancient landscapes.

Skillfully fusing innovation and tradition, the collection brings together organic lines and architectural constructions. The silhouettes merge soft, embellished skirts and structured boxy tops –from oversized angora sweaters with cage-knit Japanese thread coupled with a tender wool flounce skirt, to rigorous leather cap sleeve dresses with undulating braided leather hemlines. This game of contradictions highlights a femininity both sensual and statuesque.

The quest for innovative timelessness is also applied to the house’s trademark use of embroidery, which is pushed to new limits: silver chains are twisted, knotted, and assembled onto leather braids or lace, for an effect both fragile and fearless. This desire for subtle optical illusions – key to JAY AHR’s DNA— also appear in trompe l’oeil dresses; those are built from slick skirts and tops, wrapping their wearer in a puzzling sense of uncontrolled control. Fusing state-of-the-art experimentation and timeless refinement, a bold, passionate collection sees the light.

Moving away from the idea of a day and night wardrobe, JAY AHR merges the two garde-robes in a ballet of seemingly contradictive codes, thus losing all notions of under or over dressed, towards an intimate, round-the-clock uniform. His iconic wings are sprinkled all over the collection for a personal, playful nudge.

Like an ethnographer in a post-modern jungle, touche-à-tout Jonathan Riss translates his observations onto monumental structures, for an eternally subversive poise.