www.hannahmarshall.com
HANNAH MARSHALL S/S11 FILM by RANKIN
STRICT MACHINE SPRING | SUMMER 2011
STRICT MACHINE SPRING | SUMMER 2011
Hannah Marshall, modern womenswear's chief architect, constructs another powerful and precise collection with 'Strict Machine', a pivotal season that presents a creative departure for the British luxury brand. It at once reasserts Marshall's sui generis - the bold power, control, and restraint that lies at the core of the brand - while evolving it into a pure aesthetic sphere.
Hannah Marshall’s designs are known for their powerful visual and emotional impact; now the designer challenges her wearer to channel that drama from more principled origins: the elements of design themselves. While this season will again underline Marshall's strong sense of sartorial authorship, its true aim is the exploration of the limits of form, tonality, and proportion. This is minimalism, Marshall style.
As always, hints of Marshall's own ideology on modern gender politics and ideals manifest themselves through her directional designs. With 'Strict Machine', Marshall investigates privacy of the body and the mind and the way we control access and exposure of our most intimate inner lives. The collection marks the introduction of discreet colour into the Marshall spectrum; looks this season are rendered in a mathematically monochrome palette of signature black, grey, chalk, mint, nude and white. Advanced, sometimes unorthodox, luxury materials like matte suede, leather plugging, and silk morocain are utilized. Razor thin panels run vertically down the body like extended body architecture; their purpose is to re-shape and re-sculpt and re-figure the definition of the silhouette. These repetitive panels are stacked together, covering the surface; from the exterior they appear as a sculpted field of layers - a reference to the transformative multi-media of visual artist Brian Dettmer, whose work fascinates Marshall.
Body conscious wonder-silhouettes are, as always, engineered with precision. These are based not on curves, but on solid shapes, which are extended visually to lengthen and straighten the body. Shoulders, always a focal point, are still heightened with power, but take on a low-key sophistication this season. A tension unfolds between a stern and spartan external visage and a human fragility that threatens to surface. Silhouettes are streamlined and refined to suggestions of their former sharper, more vociferous selves. There is a serene confidence to the looks, which move with the unforeseen elegance of a steel swan. Incorporating the techniques of restraint achieved impeccably by minimalist masters of the 90’s; Helmut Lang and Jil Sander, for her Spring 2011 collection, Marshall delivers upon the early promise she presaged years ago as London's newest, coolest, 'Strict Machine'.
A progressive transition between 2D, 3D, and 4D forms introduces textural sequencing to the collection through a series of minimalist architectonic silhouettes. As the collection progresses down the catwalk, the pieces become intensified, the layers increase, the scale grows, and the depth of the panels stretch to transform into a prosthetic-like fabrication that disguises and hides the body as we know it. A concept video by the famed Rankin accompanied the catwalk show, making the 'Strict Machine' presentation a fully synesthetic experience for Fashion Week viewers.
Colleen Nika
SHOW CREDITS
STYLIST & CREATIVE CONSULTANT
KIM HOWELLS
MAKE UP
ALEX BOX @ D+V USING MAC PRO
HAIR
ALAIN PICHON @ STREETERS USING
L’OREAL PROFESSIONNEL
NAILS
NAIL GIRLS
FILM
RANKIN
SOUNDTRACK
MALCOLM PATE
WORDS
COLLEEN NIKA
CASTING
SHELLEY DURKAN @ D+V MANAGEMENT
SHOW PRODUCION
BACCHUS
PR
EXPOSURE
SPONSORS
L’OREAL PROFESSIONNEL
MAC
VITAMIN WATER
++-+B1+(Large).jpg)
.jpg)