Mutable fashion 3
John Ribbe continues to explore the avenues of transformable clothing. After his half-pieces, to be assembled with buttons, and superpositioned bands held in place by snaps from previous collections, he now experiments with modularity by means of Velcro, which allows a woman to wear her clothes in a multitude of possible ways. We may therefore mix and match the front and back panels of dresses, skirts, bustier tops and tank tops in black or white plastic-coated linen or linen covered with a veil of fuchsia, lemon yellow or turquoise chiffon. We can loosen or tighten sleeves, open panels on shirts or pant legs, cinch the waist of a jacket and choose to wear it with long, short or no sleeves at all, thanks to the velcro closures. The blends of materials and contrasting matte and transparent fabrics are another constant theme of the collection: supple rubber with loose knits, fine cotton jersey with wool. Certain "paper doll" dresses are also reversible, with different colored panels four dresses in one! The superpositioning of bands of pink, yellow and blue veils on mid-length dresses with thin straps, long dresses or short tank dresses create charming motifs and multicolored effects.
Virginie Transon
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