PARTY GIRL: 032c Ready To Wear Paris Fashion Week Launch & Lookbook
Unveiled last week in a Paris Fashion Week presentation at Lafayette Anticipations, PARTY GIRL is a proposal for brutal elegance, conceived in Berlin, Germany. The collection launch marks 032c Ready To Wear’s official entrance into the seasonal fashion calendar with a hardcore interpretation of formal minimalism, disrupted through the media and fashion brand’s philosophy of juxtaposition, curiosity, and experimentation.
Featured here are images from the PARTY GIRL look book, modeled by LUCA GAJDUS and shot in Berlin by MAX VON GUMPPENBERG.
The event took place in the heart of the Marais, in the 19th century hôtel particulier recently renovated by Rem Koolhaas/OMA to house the cultural projects of the Galeries Lafayette foundation. In the venue’s glass-enclosed rooftop gallery, looks were presented on posed mannequins arranged in a circle, inviting viewers to walk around the clothing and explore each garment’s materials and fabrication in detail. The installation was “deliberately boring,” according to 032c Ready To Wear creative director Maria Koch, whose intention was to create the “antithesis of a fashion spectacle” to allow an immediate, up-close experience of the collection.
The collection emphasizes material and technical quality, which is energetically revealed and concealed. Counterintuitive pairings of fabrics and design subvert classic garments such as the white button-up shirt or the little black dress. Bonded buttons and trompe l’oeil layers in outerwear veil functional details and structure, while external darts and visible tailoring expose them. Contrasting textures and shapes pair soft draped tops and dresses with sculpted leather and canvas volumes. Fabrics associated with functional clothing are reinterpreted in elegant evening attire, referencing 032c’s background in workwear in the context of luxury standards. Asymmetrical cut-outs and lush Swarovski Crystal embellishments elevate and complicate otherwise stark silhouettes, adding a sense of accident and excess to the garments’ rigor and intention. Heritage production methods are adapted for contemporary fabrics benefiting from new technology and environmental guidelines. Ethically sourced fabrics feature prominently: a GOTS-certified fur alternative by the German brand Steiff appears as an evening dress and a classic, military-cut winter coat.
The Autumn/Winter 2020/2021 womenswear collection introduces 032c Ready To Wear’s first line of women’s footwear, produced and distributed with support from Onward Luxury Group and designed by Francesco Russo, who is known for his sharp and sensual takes on classic heels. “We are so happy to be working with Onward, to have the support of their CEO Fabio Ducci, and to be collaborating with the amazing Francesco Russo on our first line of heels,” says Maria Koch. The PARTY GIRL presentation also celebrated 032c’s ongoing partnership with adidas in a lush adaptation of the German sportswear brand’s classic “Campus” court shoe, encased in Swarovski Crystal.
