Vetements X DHL Express – Beyond The T-Shirt

It’s been two years – a lifetime in fashion – since the first Vetements x DHL Express collaboration. Instead of floating away like another catwalk fad, this relationship has lasted.

Demna Gvasalia has been busy. Alongside his brother Guram, he caused a fashion earthquake in December 2015 after launching Vetements in Paris, the high-end fashion house that saw models taking to the catwalk in inky Doc Marten Boots and banana-yellow cotton tees emblazoned with the DHL logo – retailing for US$300. Gvasalia uprooted the sedate and at times snobbish culture around Fashion Week, turning his back on venues like Le Grand Palais for the basement of Le Depot, a renowned sex club, and Le Président, a garish Chinese restaurant. And where competing brands used the latest hot face, Vetements cast people with no modeling experience to promote its pieces.

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As well as disrupting, designer Demna Gvasalia has been embraced by the fashion establishment, and towards the end of 2015 he was named artistic director of Balenciaga, one of the darlings of Kering, the luxury group whose brand portfolio also includes Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen, to name a few.

Furthermore, as Lisa Armstrong explains, “That high-low marriage was so perfectly articulated in the T-shirt. It was very satirical. It also asked a lot of questions, about our perceived values of clothing, and the sums consumers will pay for a hyped object.”

This celebration of the ordinary that was first made so joyous by the Pop Art of the 50s and 60s and then had its heyday in 80s fashion became muffled in the ensuing decades. As Ailsa Miller, Fashion Director at Stylist, tells us, “Vetements launched at a time when the fashion industry was taking itself particularly seriously. After the recession, there was a real shift away from fun fashion. We were overdue a resurgence of frivolity and someone who was willing to inject humor into the industry again.”

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Don’t forget the streets

Of course the idea of street fashion bleeding into traditional campaigns and catwalks is by no means unique. Current campaigns from both Gucci and Oscar de la Renta reveal the influence of street style – for example, Oscar de la Renta is launching a bright pink anorak in its 2018 collection. The same can be said of designs from as far back as 1992, when Marc Jacobs sparked controversy sending models down the catwalk with silk shirts treated to resemble polyester flannel tied around their waists – a more casual approach to couture than was accustomed.

The end result, as expressed by fashion expert Armstrong, is, “Ironic for sure.” But as for the future of the Vetements clothing itself? “I think some of the pieces will be in fashion museums and certainly fashion books in years to come. Maybe they will be considered icons of irony?” A slogan that would look right at home on a US$300 Gvasalia-designed T-shirt.