Armand Basi One (Q2711)
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Armand Basi One is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Armand Basi One |
Armand Basi One is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
It's amazing how quickly designers are burrowing down into the early eighties for inspiration, and who's coming back up with what. At Armand Basi, Markus Lupfer hit on an as-yet-unexplored seam: not the neon graffiti New York club scene beloved by Marc Jacobs, but the dark, furious, feminist fashion counterpoint that was exploding on the Paris runway at the same time, thanks to Comme des Garçons and Yohji Yamamoto.Oddly, the notes on seats credited Helmut Newton and the Bauhaus as sources, though Newton was hardly a known fan of stomping flat brothel-creepers; extreme drop-crotch pants; or the kind of figure-enveloping, giant-shouldered shapes Lupfer sent out. That's not to quarrel too much with what the designer actually showed: something between the monochrome moodiness of the Japanese and memories of that short-lived yet hard to forget New Wave poseur phase when the likes of Ultravox or A Flock of Seagulls were taking themselves awfully seriously. For trend hounds, that meant the collection ticked all the right sort of boxes with its coolly sloppy dolman-sleeved biker jackets, voluminous-shouldered capes, skinny knit leggings, and grommet-perforated asymmetric knitwear. Thankfully, Lupfer managed not to overstep the mark that would have turned it into editorial-only historical pastiche, making it the strongest collection he's yet turned out for the Spanish label.
20 February 2009
Sheerness has become a feature of many London presentations this season, Markus Lupfer's Armand Basi One show included. It's an oddity that may reflect the current obsession among the city's young designers with reliving the early nineties, when visible underwear and nipples were commonplace on the runway. (Odd, because if memory serves, no woman ever wore those particular looks outside a fashion shoot.) Aside from the see-through organza shirts, dresses with sheer windows, and even pants made from a kind of black netting, Lupfer is still fascinated by structured volumes, cutting skirts with jutting peplums and showing a line of banana-legged pants. To give him his due, he has been working those pants since before they appeared on a YSL runway, so maybe this season their moment will finally come.
16 September 2008
Markus Lupfer's second London showing of the Spanish brand Armand Basi was a bouncy essay in exaggerated volume and color. Overblown trapezes; dresses with bunchy, standout gatherings above the waist; and A-line jackets with giant flounces seemed almost deliberately awkward and doll-like. "It's about having fun with clothes and enjoying color," said Lupfer. He didn't exactly hit on anything new—inflated, sub-Balenciaga shapes have been exhaustively exploited by fashion over the past couple of years—but the color combinations (orange, magenta, peacock blue, green, and pink) were luscious and the materials couture standard. Exactly what such extravagant cloques, failles, matelassés, and minks (therewasa nice gray cocoon edge-to-edge coat midway through) are doing at this label is puzzling, though. If you came expecting to see a collection consistent with a mid- to upper-level sportswear firm that makes easy clothes for young girls (its established identity over some years), you left feeling bemused.
12 February 2008
One bellwether for the way things are blowing in London is the appearance on the official schedule of Armand Basi, out of Barcelona, Spain. The welcome mat has been rolled out not just because Basi is a successful 20-year-old family-owned knitwear business, but because the Londoner Markus Lupfer has been hired as its chief designer. For Lupfer, who closed his own label some time ago, it's a happy comeback. And for the Spanish brand, London is a stage from which to project its readiness for international action."There's no really big heritage, so they've let me find a look, and push it a little bit," said the German-born Lupfer, who had already test-driven the collection twice during Barcelona fashion week. Result: some experimental Japanese-via-the-eighties looks, a nice sense of color, and a bit of playtime nuttiness supplied by his housemate, the accessory designer Katie Hillier. Lupfer wove raffia through the show, principally in the fabrics, which had an airy structure, and more literally in the "Mohawk" heeled shoes, tutus, bags, bangles, and near-spherical pompom finale dresses. By the end, the audience was laughing—in a good way—which is quite an accolade for a show slotted for first-thing Sunday morning. Those who turned up got to show off about it to laggards all day long.
15 September 2007