The Sunday Comparison column comes back today with another brief juxtaposition, this time between Alexander Wang's Spring/Summer 2013 footwer and Roger Vivier's iconic "Ara" sandals.
In his latest collection Wang tried to pull garments apart exposing their structure, almost revealing the "skeleton" supporting them. This is the main reason why his designs were characterised by clinical panels of fabrics criss-crossed by thick and crude suture-like seams that at times turned into slashes and splices or that were simply erased using see through fabrics.
In his search for minimalism Wang created sandals and boots that in some cases looked like male dress-sock garters. The thin belts that formed the structure of his knee-high sandals and that mimicked the exposed structure of his garments called to mind '60s footwear and in particular Roger Vivier's 1968 "Ara" sandals (minus the parrot head).
While you could easily point out the differences between the two models, it would also be pretty easy to spot the similiarities. Yes, it's true, fashion comes and goes in circles and what was fashionable in the past will probably be fashionable again pretty soon, but modern collections often give the consumers a strange déjà vu sensation and the impression that creating a genuinely original collection - for different reasons including lack of time, money and will to research - is becoming almost impossible.
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Regarding this post, while the reference to Vivier is plausible, there is another designer who Wang seems to have "borrowed" the whole package from, head to toe (http://leborichef.wordpress.com/2012/12/13/not-a-coincidence/). Of course Tufi Duek's take is not very original either, but personally I find the similarities exceptionally striking. And highly questionable, as this is not borrowing from a historical designer, but an outright steal of another contemporary designer's rather current collection, only very slightly augmented.
Let's just say it's very bad PR for PPR.
Posted by: Scara | January 07, 2013 at 05:27 PM