Exploring Imperfection: Soulland's Innovative Take on Fashion in Troubled Times
Key Highlights :
The fashion industry has been in a state of flux for the past few seasons, with designers adapting to the changing times in various ways. This season, Soulland opted to forgo the runway and instead held a dinner and show the collection by appointment. Creative director Silas Adler was inspired to take this approach by his background in skateboarding and his desire to reconcile how to best apply it to fashion.
The collection’s art print featured a baroque design with peacocks, which was an effective design but an outlier in the lineup. The more convincing pieces were classics, such as a long white knit dress with black stripes, a slip dress, and pajama separates with a beaded Soulland logo. Adler was inspired by the way that skaters return to the same tricks over and over, without ever executing them exactly the same way.
Injections of color like rose pink and neon brights added cheeriness to the collection, while still expressing the designer's concern for the state of the world. Adler had an aha moment when he misbuttoned a shirt while styling the collection and realized that it said everything about the current times. He decided to incorporate this idea into the collection by buttoning everything wrong, as a way to “express a weird feeling in a super simple way.”
Soulland's collection shows how fashion can be used to express a range of emotions, even in troubled times. By embracing imperfection, the designer was able to create a unique and innovative take on fashion that resonated with viewers.
