Henry Zankov’s brand is heating up, so it’s only right that his next collaborator would be Starbucks with limited-edition coffee cups forthcoming.
Placed on every seat at his second runway show Thursday were Starbucks gift cards. “Your essential coffee runs are on us this fashion week,” the box read. Leave it to Zankov to give tired showgoers exactly what we need.
And what we need now, in his mind, is a rock ‘n’ roll rebel’s spirit. Music is always a vibe-shifter for Zankov — whatever he’s plunging into at the moment flows directly from his ears into the clothes he’s making — and this season it was the English singer-songwriter PJ Harvey who sparked his inspiration.
“There’s a moodiness to her,” said Zankov backstage, leading him to dark neutrals, which struck a different chord for the designer, whose name has become synonymous with loud color. That being said, the collection’s base of charcoal, olive and burgundy is precisely what made an occasional flash of emerald on the train of a miniskirt or yellow on a cardigan woven into stereo waveform all the more electrifying.
Channeling an angsty ’90s look, not unlike Harvey’s own, pirate stripes, skinny scarves and disheveled knits were thrown together with abandon, but there was a medieval undercurrent as well, bubbling up in a pair of slashed jester pants, fluted Renaissance sleeves on gowns and beading and sequins resembling armor.
Pressed about this, Zankov reckoned from where within him it came: “It’s a little bit more witchy, I guess, and romantic. I wanted this somber feeling, like the times we’re in right now, we cannot help but express ourselves in a different way.”
While it may have stemmed from his own angst, Zankov’s instinct to lean darker is in-sync with where fashion is headed. The Dark Age are revealing themselves to be a major trend this season.
