Jordanluca’s latest collection is about Freud’s death drive
First seen in the March 2023 Style Edition of Wallpaper*we meet six rising stars – including Jordanluca, who is featured here – who are tearing up the catwalks of Milan’s fashion scene with fresh energy and creative spirit.
Jordan Bowen and Luca Marchetto founded Jordanluca in 2018 and showed in London for several seasons before moving their collections to Milan in 2022. Fusing Marchetto’s Italian heritage with the countercultural energy of Bowen’s native London, the couple’s visceral menswear collections often feature evocative elements that invoke fear in teenagers – whether it’s a necklace reminiscent of rose thorns, thigh-high lace-up leather boots or voluminous patchwork jeans, dragging across the floor in the wearer’s wake.
Her Spring 2023 collection, titled ‘Sabotage’, channels ‘existential threats such as madness, annihilation and gruesome, untimely death’. “It’s about Freud’s death drive, staged and reenacted by millions of us every day as we are irresistibly drawn to 101 forms of self-destruction and dangerous pleasure,” say the designers, who showed the collection at an Eclectic Group in June 2022 Models cast from the street (a soft punk version of Gloria Gaynors I will Survive served as the soundtrack).
The pieces themselves feature menswear archetypes, reimagined in the duo’s distinctive style: a pair of jeans is etched with a burned-out unique latch, edges tousled and frayed, tank tops and tailored jackets zip-open at the chest, while white ones Business poplin shirts are oversized and cropped at the sleeve. A touch of hedonism and glamor comes in lace flourishes, casual bell bottoms and 1970s-inspired prints. The designers liken the aesthetic of the season to the pursuit of pleasures you know are bad for you — much like, they say, the odd desire to remove a scab on the skin.
Speaking about the decision to show their collections in Milan in the future, the two say they are driven by the city’s burgeoning creative scene – both in fashion and beyond. “Milan has changed massively in recent years,” they say. “Italy is a big part of our brand and business, and it’s exciting to be part of a new wave of designers reinventing what it could be in the future.”
Models: Katie Johnson at Models 1, Wilfried and Adeline at Xdirectn, Alexander Carey-Morgan at Tomorrow Is Another Day. Casting: Svea Casting Hair: Tosh at Streeters. Makeup: Jimmy Owen Jones of Julian Watson Agency with Dior Forever Foundation and Capture Totale Super Potent Serum. Manicure Cherrie Snow Set Design Lizzy Gilbert. Photo assistants: Max Glatzhofer, Benedict Moore. Fashion Assistant: Stoyan Chuchuranov. Set Assistant: Aliou Janha Hair Assistant: Leanne Millar.
This story appeared in the March 2023 Style Edition of Wallpaper* (opens in new tab)available in the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS and to Apple News+ subscribers. Subscribe to Wallpaper Today* (opens in new tab)
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