AXDW day 1 - Ioannis Guia

Ok, this is a tough one.
Not because it was not a great show, it was and I am a big fan of Guia's skills and concept applications. This time though he chose a theme which is a bit challenging for the Greek audience: priests attire. Before you scroll down to see what it looked like, let me go for an intro or it won't make sense.

Guia, is a Greek born, France based designer. He shows his collections is Paris Fashion Week as well as that of Milan. I have not been following him too closely, but I was very impressed from his previous AXDW show, where I realised that he uses his Greek heritage as a source of inspiration. And by that, I do not mean the cliché ancient pleats and drapes.

With the Orthodox Easter approaching, he chose to show wearable versions of priest gowns, in a show complete with a soundtrack of hymns mixed with dub house. To get the feeling of what it was like, watch the clip below (or listen to it rather, as the picture is not that great). For the full effect let it go on but if you are not a hymn kind of person, jump to minute 01:15.

AXDW Ioannis Guia, a/w 2010 from Alecca Rox on Vimeo.

I presume that the fake peroxide blonde wigs are there to make a contrast between sin and sacred, which added to the audience's surprise that lead to some whispering of disaproval/questioning. I guess this was not the case when the show took place abroad and had I been there, as an expat, this would make me more nostalgic and proud than troubled.

Any theme-related reservations aside, this was yet another great application of inspiration into a very well constructed and tailoring-strong collection. It's all a question of thinking outside the box and whether one is willing to take it on what they wear.

Final thought , the Greek saying "it's not the gown that makes a priest".

(all photos in this post are by Patricia Munster)