Libertine Fall 2015 - Fur and Pop Art

Contemporary art meets the runway at Johnson Hartig’s fall 2015 fashion show. He has been known to collaborate with the leading modern artists of our time like Damien Hirst, but also working design projects in mass market for Target and Converse. 

Libertine’s Johnson Hartig didn't resist temptation. He pursued it.

Ok, so that’s a poor paraphrase of the tagline from the 2004 film The Libertine. Looking at the designer’s social media accounts, he’s often pursuing adventures across the world. He looks like he is more of a vagabond artist than your traditional apparel entrepreneur. Each outfit on the runway looked like it was pieced together like an art-school collage ( many of his early collections, they were). There are more traditional garments with retro 1960's to 1980s silhouettes that are further embellished with patches, or embroidery, artwork or prints like they were disrupted by an anarchist.

photos by David TW Leung

Fall 2015 of Libertine had some luxurious upgrades. My favorites were the brightly colored mink or fur coats. Dresses and outerwear had embroidered motifs and text to mirror contemporary canvases that I have seen at the MOMA. Other tributes to modern artists included Jeff Koon's balloon dogs, skull faces from The Misfits, Marcel Duchamp's Mona Lisa satire LHOOQ, Andy Warhol's Campbell Soup Cans to name a few. Some childhood pop culture references included the big blue Bumble monster from the Rudolf Christmas special, and the terrific red telephone purse was a nod to an item in his childhood home.

The makeup had the pale, super smoky eye that looked like they were styled by Living Dead Dolls. The hair was slicked and parted down the middle with a contrast pop color down the middle part.

I love that someone still brings an artsy, edgy punk vibe to the established vibe of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. The pricing and the stores who carry this collection may not reflect that, but I like Libertine's attitude all the same.