dutch avant-garde couturier dennis diem showed his fall winter 2014 collection at amsterdam fashion week and it blew peoples minds.
dennis is known for his dark mentality, gothic insanity and superb craftsmanship.
he is also known for sending models out on the runway walking on the most impossible high heels, sometimes even made out beaks of amazone toucans… and never lower than 18 centimeters.
the theme for this collection was 1920’s opium dens, the art of falling apart, the flamboyant upper-class getting stoned and tripping far beyond the depths of decadence.
we knew the sound score had to be psychedelic and incredibly stoned, reminiscent to the late sixties and early seventies like in the nicolas roeg movie ‘performance’ and the lsd trip at a cemetery in dennis hopper’s ‘easy rider’… but it also had to have a 2014 feel.
during his show six months earlier a few models fell whilst walking: twisted ankles as a result, some were even sent to nearest the hospital. so… expectations were high, this was going to be fashion’s ‘towering inferno part 2′.
anticipating to the expectations and the reviews of the last show, dennis casted ballet dancers as models who pretended to fall during the show, did amazing moves on the concrete catwalk, stood up and finished their walk. the audience was in shock when the first model fell, people ran to save the girl… to find out it was all an illusion.
besides the incredible impact of this show, dennis proved he is a fabulous designer: the collection was truly amazing.
we used tracks by jefferson airplane, emilíana torrini, mgmt, the electric prunes, alison mosshart, the beatles, tame impala, the drum roll from ‘white rabbit’… and the voices of the late jack kerouac and jim morrison. of course we used numerous effects, which turned the venue inside out and made sure the audience was flying across the ceiling, tripping through the most incredible surround sound.
seating music was rashomon’s ‘confessions of an opium eater’, walk out was a rare recording of the id’s ‘the inner sounds of the id’.
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