The date is February 17th. The show is AW 2019 by A-Jane: "Unerwartet, ich" (The Unexpected). The models walk on the stage as if following an improvised choreography: now one sits, now she stands, and then she walks. Now, the one next to her takes her place sitting down, and looks across the room pretending she is searching for someone. Perhaps she is. But we cannot see what she is seeing. And we cannot hear what she and her fellow models are hearing, whatever music is directing their subtle dance on the stage.
Alice Jane, the mastermind behind A-Jane, has built a reputation for herself as a wildly creative designer. Jane’s own passion for creating new music - or neue Musik - has pushed the Malaysian designer to challenge her own understanding of design, influencing her collections in the most unexpected ways. Jane’s work is an ode to colour and structure, and this season she has gone as full on A-Jane as humanly possible. The pieces are bright and colourful, intricate and playful and still simple enough to become wardrobe staples. Dashes of neon converse with bold lines and creative cuts as trend after trend make subtle appearances. Maxi bags, puffed up sleeves, midi skirts, tube tops… A-Jane has found her own voice amidst the oversaturation of the industry and it sounds beautifully.
Suddenly, a funny noise fills the room. One of the models has approached the middle of the stage holding an earring in each hand. Standing in front of the microphone I truly had not noticed until then, she makes the earrings dangle and clash against each other with little "Dings! Dings!" Soon another model joins her, rhythmically fastening and unfastening velcro straps. A third one joins in, and a fourth and a fifth.
Out of nowhere, the show has turned into the oddest concert imaginable, starring the sound of fashion. Is this what the industry sounds like? Is that what it all comes to be, in the end? Bits of fabric and resin and wood that swish and swoosh and make all kinds of noises and yet they remain unheard. After the show finished, on my way back home, I wondered how many aspects of the fashion industry also fall on deaf ears.
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