Manon Kündig

It's known that the blog predominantly features womenswear, but the focus is certainly not exclusive. The surge of menswear designers - and, often, designers that create only mens' collections as opposed to the commonality of womenswear designer deciding to launch menswear - is creating a select crowd of creative individuals who are injecting artistry into the unoriginal field of menswear. And where else would this scene be burgeoning but in Europe? (Here's to hoping that America can keep up.)

Manon Kündig is fresh meat in the fashion industry, having just presented his graduate collection for his Masters in the Fashion Department of Antwerp's Royal Academy of Arts. A 29-year-old hailing from Switzerland, Kündig focuses on the process of crafting a collection. The graduate collection, entitled "Bowerbird," utilizes the innovative technique of marbling to create unique patterns for each of his prints. Much of "Bowerbird" also builds on a counter to the stereotypical male image. The male bowerbird collects scraps in order to attract the female and such a technique aptly embodies the idea of the collection. Kündig's creations combine the atypical for an exotic result that calls to mind some strange bird of paradise. And perhaps it is a deeper evaluation of the human male identity: faces masked in fabric imply that the forms on which these clothes are carried may resemble our species but could very much be of another.

 

Collection images from antwerp-fashion.be (Antwerp Royal Academy of Arts' Fashion Dept. website)

Backstage images from dazeddigital.com

I truly enjoy the creativity that young designers are lending to menswear. Design schools are producing graduates that take pleasure from craftsmanship and the creative process, an encouragement to the fashion industry especially in thinking of the domination of trend-focused fast-fashion. 

Menswear is experiencing an exciting renaissance and the future appears bright as long as it remains in the hands of the dedicated and talented youth who no longer belong to the safety net of their academies. It is our job as fashion enthusiasts to support their moves towards independence in the competitive field of fashion design so exotic artistry can survive a world of overpowering consumerist hunger.