For her Spring/Summer 2022 collection Martine Rose served a response to post-Brexit Britain. T-shirts featured the slogan Promising Britain with a cartoon of a clown surrounded by European Union flag stars, while overcoats were adorned with badges that read “magic change ahead”. Last June Rose worked with Nike to reimagine the England shirt, using it to state that football, which is a historically male-dominated sport, should be enjoyed by anyone and everyone.
The kit featured an OG women's crest, in reference to the 14 female players who in 1971 opposed critics saying women shouldn't play football. “I don't want to make big sweeping statements about how other designers should work, but for me it's extremely important to be connected with what's going on out there,” Rose told GQ from her North London studio. “As a designer I have a duty to reflect the times. There's a time and a place for losing yourself in fantastical collections.”
For Autumn/Winter 2022 41-year old Rose, who cut her teeth as a consultant at Balenciaga, wanted to reflect on the past two years of the global pandemic. “I feel the whole collection is really about our collective global experience of Covid-19 and how it has shaped our lives," she says. "We still aren't in the clear about where we are or where we are going.”
Rose's collection, which she unveiled via a lookbook this week, comprises pieces that reflect the dissolved boundaries between personal downtime and working hours that we first experienced in March 2020. “We've been living in, and still are, this unclear, dream like world,” Rose continues, “We've struggled to mentally and physically make clear definitions between work and personal lives because we're doing both under the same roof. Like fucking hell what is this?"
A slouchy wraparound dressing gown-cum-coat is constructed out of boiled wool, which is a material traditionally used for outdoor-wear, notably overcoats and jackets. Loose-cut suits were made using a deadstock undergarment fabric that Rose sourced from a factory that went bust during the pandemic. “Used traditionally on girdles, corsets, granny pants and lacy underwear intended for wear in the bedroom, I wanted to show that weird inside-outside living idea through the use of the fabric on suits designed primarily for the office," Rose explains. Her other suits, which arrive in punchy flamingo pink and charcoal, are cut from the nylon material used on shell tracksuits to give them a crinkle effect. This she says is to make them look as “they've just been grabbed from your floordrobe”.
100 per cent cotton denim jackets and jeans, constructed in Japan where Rose asserts that the best denim can be found, have been given a similar crinkled effect. Rose explains that this was done to “reflect the idea of falling asleep in your daywear at your makeshift desk.” Wrapped around models necks are eiderdown scarves, hugging the wearer in the way a duvet would. Elsewhere there's suit jackets paired with pyjama bottoms to reflect our dependence on video conferencing platforms such as Zoom, whereby only our top halves could be seen. Rose also presents cape-like poncho jackets made from floral bedcovers.
Rose’s AW/22 collection also nods to the Nineties. “The Nineties shaped my formative years and so with everything I do you'll see something that riffs on the way people dressed then.” Knitwear is oversized and baggy, as if taken from the wardrobe of Kurt Cobain, while shell parka coat-trackpant combos are reminiscent of those worn by decade-defining Elton John and Run DMC.
Meanwhile Rose, whose signature square-toe loafer has been a mainstay of previous collections, has also introduced a new footwear shape. “My collections are all about building a full wardrobe for the Martine Rose guy, and so he needs shoes." The new leather loafers have an exaggerated bulb-like toe that she says is based on the bold loafers worn by men throughout the Nineties.
“This collection really excited me, as it had me looking at where we are in the world,” Rose explains. “Saying that, I'm already thinking about the next one, which I'm even more excited about.”
Same here, Martine.
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