Roberto Piqueras moved from Madrid to London last year thanks to sponsorship from Burger King, weirdly, and after displaying his stuff last season at Primitive, he did a proper show on the path leading from his east London council flat to the main road. Roberto's androgynous digital print pieces with neon accents are basically his take on the nu-rave fashions he wishes he'd been in London to see. Generally, styles come back around after approximately fifteen years, but the tumblr/seapunk/GeoCities/nu-rave trend is acting more like goth, in that it appeared six years ago, receded, has been resurrected and will probably affect fashion on and off for a quite long period of time.
Annons
Just before the show started, a local granny asked me what was going on. I had to explain what a fashion show was to her three times. You'd think living in Bethnal Green she'd be more in tune with the local scene. It was really surreal to see a hundred or so fashion people hanging around in their finery on a distinctly average estate. Every time a siren went off, one of Roberto's assistants would stick their head out the window of his flat to make sure the police weren't coming to remove the disturbance.
The styling was simple – leggings and body-con skirts were worn with shirts tied round their waists – but the digital prints were quite the opposite, being both architectural and kaleidoscopic. Unfortunately Roberto is mega-excited about the jubilee this year and is probably a little bit confused, caught somewhere betweeen punk and patriotism. The layered prints of the Queen's face often made it look as if she was melting. It was funny being at a show with no music, but – Alexis Knox above in the lavender fur – who styled the show blew on a horn every so often. People concentrate on the clothes much more when they aren't bothered if they are bopping their head correctly to an Azealia Banks remix.
Vice photographer Alis Pelleschi walked. She always dresses in a somehow severe but colourful manner, but with Roberto's stuff on she looked even more alien than usual. Roberto was giving away the same temporary tattoos of jewelry the models were wearing on their faces. I reckon it's definitely the cheapest facial jewelry available and I saw lots of people applying them to eyelids. That's next season's beauty tip, right there.
Annons
Whilst the cut of his clothes tends to be simple and clean, Roberto's prints are some of the most fun out there at the moment. To my only slightly K-addled mind, the oversiaed jumper above looked like an astronomical diagram or a laser security system.
These two lads from the estate didn't understand that the path to the bus stop was now a runway. They stood around watching for a bit but decided to leave during the finale. In their heads I guess it was the gathering of deluded freaks walking up and down the path to the chicken shop in a strange manner. The guy on the right was obviously sorted for printed sporstwear stuff anyway.It's great to see a show done the way the designer wants – a whole week after fashion week, on his own estate, using models cast from tumblr. The best fashion shows always manage to convince you that you're absolutely where you're meant to be in the universe right at that moment in time, and being made to feel that way on the world's most ordinary path outside a mediocre block of flats made me feel like Roberto was particularly good at this whole fashion thing.
