LFW SS19 Starsica: The Art of Story Telling
08-12-2023
Starsica’s strength lies as much in story-telling as it does in garment-making and for SS19, we were given a fantastical surrealist narrative of a girl who undertakes a strange journey whilst trying to find her way out of a rainforest. Entitled “Doctored Evidence: Be True to Yourself”, this collection navigates the difficult terrain of memories and the past – can our memories ever be trusted or are they too unreliable?
The story begins with a girl waking up in a tropical rainforest, thus the show opens with a model emerging from the wings looking confused and wearing a leaf green dress. As she continues her travels, she sees an alligator entering a TV (represented through crocodilian bags), and a disorganised library filled with her memories (the architecture of which is shown by the arched window-like panels in a dark blue coord set). A grey leopard print dress recalls both exotic wildlife as well as static on a TV screen- taking this further, perhaps it could also signify the fuzzy nature of our memories?
Along her journey, lightning strikes. This can be seen in the triangular details of the sculpted geometrical sleeves as well as in the metallic accents of this season’s colour palette. At one point, the girl is also led to a cocktail party. Elegant eveningwear, therefore, is allowed to share the spotlight- standout looks are the asymmetrical black velvet dress and the strappy red jumpsuit. Despite the different pit stops on her path, we are brought back to the forest intermittently as florals and leafy prints appear throughout the collection.
When we think of the way memory manifests in Starsica’s clothing, derivations are perhaps not immediately obvious. If we dig deeper, however, we realise that memories are in every facet of every piece. Clashing prints reflect the landscape of our minds and the way mismatched memories coexist; pastels create a romantic dreamworld where we allow our memories to thrive through nostalgia. Weird silhouettes in unique fabrics suggest a sense of memory distortion and reinvented realities; graphic stickers on coats show the fragmented memories from our past, which often appear sans context; and zig-zag prints hint at the non-linear nature of our recollections.
Finally, layers in clothing, either seen in placing outerwear on top of separates or in ruffles on individual items, are indicative of not only the strata at the Earth’s surface and the passing of time, but also the many layers of our own memories and the way they change over the years.
In addition to being creative and contemporary, this collection is above all introspective, making the audience feel a maelstrom of emotions all whilst admiring beautifully crafted clothing.
(Can we also talk about how utterly divine the lilac ruffled set was?)
Words by Sophie Lau
Images by Chris Daw
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