Enfants Riches Déprimés F/W 2018

On January 21st, 1500h Enfants Riches Déprimés unveils its Automne/Hiver 18 collection -  a dark pastiche of a post war Bauhaus entwined with a subversive brutalist reverse propaganda - in stark contrast to the light pastels and afternoon light of last seasons Printemps/Été 18 show at Christie’s Paris.

Henri Alexander has refined and twisted reoccurring symbolism from the brands DNA once again, with parliament light and American spirit heels. Kandinsky and Magritte referenced checks teamed with century old tapestries that have been cut up and reformed into sharp fit teddy boy tailoring alongside full velvet and corduroy suits. A garment is a garment and a violin is a violin, but when examined through Henri Alexander Levy’s temperament the garment acts inconsequently as a reducer of meaning, excusing and sanctioning the power of the creative demon.

The uniform created exists as the most singlehanded specific arrangement of parts, all acting as pieces to a puzzle of re appropriation and insanity that defines Enfants Riches Déprimés, a secret language of obstruction, specificity and precise aesthetic scope; unparalleled luxury.

ENFANTS RICHES DÉPRIMÉS S/S 2018

Enfants Riches Déprimés unveils its S/S 2018 pre-collection at Christie’s Paris, the first time in which a fashion house has shown at the historic auction house, founded in 1766.

The location serves as an adequate setting for a definitive moment of Enfants Riches Déprimés, in which Henri Alexander’s concepts are displayed without compromise nor restraint. The runway travels through the various Matignons of Christie’s, wherein each room is curated with Henri Alexander’s paintings—a series of massive valet tickets and psychological process diagrams attacked by violent and naïve gestures.

Scribbles juxtaposed on fine tailoring, the paintings, which have been on display at Christie’s for days prior to the show, fill the pacing on the runway.

Textures of silver chains and reconfigured 18th century antique brooches—binding this season’s suiting and ready-to-wear—act as functional assemblage, luring you into relapses of Neoclassicism and outbreaks of savagery. A story is told—a final dichotomy—with lonely silhouettes of a boy and chain—beautifully knit in collaboration with Loro Piana—peeking out between looks of spring pastels and shades of black, similar to a de Kooning.

Henri Alexander’s paintings, garments, references, and setting create a prolific collage of regression, coupling luxury with the fine art function: the tragic only child of capitalist realism, neo-Dadaism and the refined unconscious mind.