“I have a shop in Kyiv, and I was messaging the person yesterday saying ‘I hope you are OK,'” said John Richmond at his fall presentation, reflecting on being in the fashion swirl of Milan, while thinking about the people of Ukraine as they fight for survival.
“Originally, we were going to do a show, but decided in January to wait because we just didn’t know,” he added, of the other world crisis, which, at least this week, seems to be waning. “Ironically, things have speeded up very quickly from then to today. Milan is happening, which is great.”
Still, Richmond was happy to take a pause, while there is some restructuring going on in his company, with the promise of returning to the runway next season.
When it comes to fashion, the designer, one of the original punk rockers, is in the right place at the right time, now that the sexy, glam 1980s are back.
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“This early 1980s, crazy London thing, with Leigh Bowery…young people are using that as a period of reference,” he said. “And that’s something I was really a part of. Leigh was a good friend, and we were actually going to start a band,” he recalled. “It never happened, which might be a good thing. It probably would have been too crazy.”
For fall, Richmond tapped into his DNA. “There’s a real movement for bondage clothing, it seems to be everywhere. It started a few years ago in Berlin and now has become almost mainstream. Look at Miu Miu,” he said.
His take? Leather trousers with slit legs or bondage buckles, graffiti leather jackets and studded bombers, classic jewel-tone suiting with zipper details and biker jackets galore were in the offering.
Tattoos are a perennial inspiration for the designer, whose red silk tattoo flash jacquard pant suit with piercing details, worn over a revealing mono-bra, with fetish-y platform “Dorothy” heels. “Post COVID[-19], people just want to get out…” (And let it all hang out.)
He also translated one of his nearest and dearest designs into a gorgeous, floral embroidered mesh minidress spelling out, “In Good We Trust.” Words to live by.