Cinematic imagery has been a reoccurring theme in the work of designer Johan Ku. For the Spring 2016 season he drew on the art film "Death in Venice", this time around however, he drew on a seemingly more low-brow film and looked toward the horror classic "The Thing" for inspiration. In the hands of Ku, however, nothing is ever low-brow. His Fall 2016 collection built on imagery such as freshly fallen snow, ice crystals, and yes even monstrous appendages that looked as though they were literally bursting from model's bodies, and elevated it all to wearable-art status. The first section of the collection featured highly textured black and grey knits that played with volume, cut and silhouette in interesting ways. The pieces then evolved, like a movie-monster changing its shape to better stalk its prey, into a section of seemingly white looks that were photo-sensitive and glowed an alien blue-green hue under the darkened runway (see detail shot below.) In the final section, the monster fully evolved into a furry arachnid like look that included actual arms encircling the pieces in a menacing embrace. Wild? Yes, but also fashion-genius. The only concern will be next season in Tokyo when Ku fans everywhere have snapped up the pieces to wear to his show, how will all those alien arms fit in the audience?
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All images: Cynthia Anderson for Style Wylde.