Psychedelic prints and family portraits made for a homely affair with Matty Bovan this season
The Central Saint Martins-graduate’s London Fashion Week presentation was all about curating an “emotionally charged world.”
DESIGNER: MATTY BOVAN
SEASON: Spring/Summer 2022, titled HYPERCRAFT
EVENT: London Fashion Week
LOCATION: On the URL
Have you ever woken up 15 minutes before your alarm and tried to rescue those few last moments of sleep, only to be teleported to a not-quite-real, not-quite-fantasy dimension? That stage of the REM where proportions are skewed, noises from the outside world infiltrate your thoughts and everything’s a little stranger than usual?
Matty Bovan’s SS22 collection felt reminiscent of that woozy state of mind. As dancing models were superimposed into the realms of a 1970’s dolls-house, audiences were transported to a dreamlike labyrinth, complete with psychedelic visuals and a discombobulated soundtrack. Think Alice in Wonderland, if Alice had studied at CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS.
Aptly titled HYPERCRAFT, the designer’s latest collection – which was presented via a digital showcase on Friday - celebrated the art of meticulous crafting and taking fashion back to its hands-on basics. But Bovan’s work is anything but. Patchwork fabrics and blown-out textiles filled the minuscule rooms, while other-wordly shapes were draped in lashings of rainbow-coloured beads. Not to mention the restructured return of slashed open UGG’S and tie-dye, platform slippers.
Where Bovan took us outdoors for his FW21 collection, this season proved to be a homely affair, with the designer scattering the interior of the house with family photos, personal drawings and nostalgic, ‘60s-esque textiles. For one look, Bovan even screen-printed a snapshot from his photo album onto a billowing, halter neck ballgown.
Bursts of neon tulle consumed one model, while another sported a cape fashioned from old-school crocheting techniques, a skill Bovan owes to his grandmother - “I was lucky enough to be taught crochet by my grandmother, Joan, when I was a teenager, and I knew I wanted to bring in ‘granny crochet,’ but subverted to a place where people would not expect to see it.”
Bovan’s HYPERCRAFT succeeded in channeling both the surreal and the familiar at once. Where many turn to beyond their front door for inspiration, Bovan’s collection proved that, sometimes, all it takes is to bring it back home.
Images by RUTH HOGBEN, courtesy of MATTY BOVAN and MANDI LENNARD.
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