During Paris Fashion Week at the iconic l’Ecole Duperré, Gabriel Figueiredo unveiled Sex by De Pino, his second runway collection composed primarily of deadstock materials and workmanship of Parisian couture. Photographer Rita Castel Branco takes us backstage where models wore nude provoking neutral alongside a cold color palette and oversized hats, in collaboration with Boswell Millinery, conjuring up exaggerated imagery of Charlotte Rampling in The Night Porter or Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton AW11.
Figueiredo is still a young designer, although extremely experienced in his reinterpretations of the French Savoir-Faire, while I’m stuck in what would be considered exactly middle-aged. What I don’t think a lot about is sex, and especially what is sexy. However, I’ve seen younger people becoming more prude and older women succumbing to the noted Mar-a-Lago face; it is hard to know if these are the reactions to the male gaze or pressure from other women. Earlier this year, I read in The Guardian that «a group of chimpanzees in Zambia have been very busy putting grass in their ears and sticks up their bum for fashion purposes. Scientists studying the behaviour think that one influential chimp started the trend and, instead of the rest of the gang going, “mate, you look like an idiot”, they all just followed suit.»
I thought a lot about those chimpanzees recently as we are at peak clout and celebrity fatigue is kicking in. If you look at many celebrities flooding our algorithms during fashion week, I keep wondering if sex sells, if it’s back or dead. What was refreshing about Sex by De Pino is to have a designer unapologetically question what pieces he finds sexy like a pencil skirt or glamorous like a party girl in a trench. Looking at designers like Azzedine Alaïa and Alber Elbaz and iconic fashion editors of the 2010s for inspiration, it does feel like that time when clothes were playful, fun, and sexy, before we were insecure if with hype for socials and flawless skin for selfies.
Somehow, we have lost our confidence, and in that, our sexiness. If you need celebrities to sell your clothes, then you probably aren’t that confident in the quality of your work. If you are buying pieces because of influencers, then you aren’t confident in trusting your own taste or style. We are losing confident designers and confident dressers. However, De Pino’s collection made me more confident that there are designers out there committed to craft and style. After the show I thought a lot about what I consider sexy, and its taking risks.
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