VTMNTS FALL 2022

VTMNTS is Guram Gvasalia’s new project, an offshoot of the Vetements brand, with strong sartorial codes that were very much in evidence at tonight’s arresting show. The location was an empty former Monoprix on the Boulevard Raspail. Team VTMNTS lined it with wooden benches and invited guests to sit where they pleased. The energy in the room was not unlike that of the Vetements of old, back when Guram Gvasalia and his brother Demna were messing with the conventions of the fashion system.

As birdsong piping through the loudspeakers gave way to a sub-bass laden soundtrack that Shazam couldn’t identify, the first model charged through the automatic doors at the back of the store. They wore a dark red double-breasted suit jacket in bi-stretch with piping up the sleeves and shoulder seams that Gvasalia said he’s implemented to prevent copy-cats. Their black trousers were unzipped at the hems, the better to accommodate their substantial footwear: cowboy boots whose top stitching bore the VTMNTS barcode logo with combat boot soles. It was a boss silhouette—strong but not strange.

The 59 outfits that followed were variations on that theme. On some looks, Gvasalia doubled up the jackets or added a matching tailored coat. On others the trousers were replaced by colorful track pants with stripes down the side. Here and there a flash of underwear was exposed by a low-slung waistband; Gvasalia hinted that VTMNTS will unveil a full range soon. Outerwear included puffers cropped high below the armpits and letterman jackets. A cloud print on a zip-front coat brought to mind an early Louis Vuitton collection from the late Virgil Abloh or The Simpsons, which would be a nod in his brother’s direction. Gvasalia said he lifted it from a childhood puzzle of Germany’s fairytale Neuschwanstein Castle, and he retained the puzzle piece motif as a surface treatment.

All of these looks were served up with attitude by an all-gender cast of mostly runway first-timers, many with buzzcuts. What Gvasalia seemed to be up to here was establishing a VTMNTS uniform, and non-binariness is as much a mark of the label as impactful tailoring or its barcode logo. But why the Eminem hoodie close to the end? The “Remember Me!” messaging down both sleeves seemed to hint there’s more to come on that subject. Gvasalia has our attention.

Images courtesy of VTMNTS.