Who Decides War draws itself out along the cutting edge of the contemporary design scene, and designers Everard Best and Tela D’Amore have created a brand that has an intrinsic understanding of people and the world at large.
In recent collections, lace adorned high-tops have come down the runway alongside raw Italian silks dyed in neutral tones, and their latest spring collection (the brand’s most expansive to date) resonated with the “Out of Office” crowd, showcasing an array of looks loosely inspired by the duo’s Caribbean roots and creating a new take on island vibes.
The collection, titled “Underwater,” places direct emphasis on the current and ongoing conversation surrounding climate change, with Caribbean countries being overlooked when affected by powerful storms during the seasonal hurricane seasons.
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“We love to go to these places, but people don’t take into stock the actions that we have with climate change and the effects it has with these islands and the risk of them being wiped out,” said Best.
As for the clothes themselves, for men there was a denim vest with palm tree graphics, paired with cream denim jeans, adorned with palm trees and blue rising waves from the knee toward the leg opening, with a reinterpreted logo from a vintage shirt belonging to Best’s father reading “Shock Waves,” and a denim jean done in collaboration with giant Levi’s.
Cream and black-colored delicate suit with distressed layers (similar to the distressing techniques used on the brand’s signature eye-catching denim), knits with cutouts of stained-glass windows and plenty of colorful and graphic camp shirts depicted the infamous beach palm trees.
A highlight for the women: an updated version of the little black dress, with some of the same techniques applied to the denim, distressed and repaired with very little body, this one in a four-way stretch mesh, layered with beading and lace appliqués, a silhouette that will be carried on in future collections.
Previous collections have tied in a religious commentary, utilizing the overarching relation to the public and social commentaries to create simplistic styles — such as the brand’s stained-glass logo, seen on pieces such as cardigans, bomber jackets and reinterpreted on knits as cutouts.
A center installation piece adorned the runway as models trotted around, the Madonna, which was spray-painted (from the inside out) in an ocean blue — “this is our most symbolic way of saying that it’s the time for women essentially,” said D’Amore.