There's a soft wistfulness in the faded fabrics and vintage silhouettes ROBERT GELLER employed for his Fall 2018 collection. Drawing inspiration from his childhood, Geller reimagines portions of his upbringing in Berlin through the lens of a fictional soccer team, F.C. Charlottenburg. Channeling athletic inspiration from the 80's, the collection is a fuzzy view of the washed denim, soccer jerseys, and layered overshirts many of us grew up with.
Athletic themes like track jackets and club tees balance Geller's signature silhouettes for a pleasing nostalgia, flush with excitement and romantic hindsight. Known for finely detailed color treatments, this collection leans on faded rusts, earthy clays, and retro mauves set against the more ubiquitous grays and blacks for a timeless aesthetic that both suits and defies memory.
Although the vintage inspiration leans toward the idyllic, Geller reminds us of the tumultuous context for this fictional story with military details like logo crests, club armbands, and elongated silhouettes. Rather than gloss over the difficult political context of 1980's Germany, each piece contains a small portion of that personal history while calling on a greater heritage through the purposeful choices of an 1880 creation date for the club and iconic double-headed eagle for the club's crest.
Combining both the athletic styling and military aspects, the styling of the show itself is an echo of a youthful protest now grown up. Layers of team logos, contrasting textures, and a subtle spectrum of faded colors can be interpreted as either an homage to vintage or a reminder of the heavy cultural context underlying the whole.
This collection follows Geller's 10th anniversary show by a year– Geller took a year to refocus his business– reinventing several of his signature styles and enabling a deeper exploration of his adventurous intimacy. Japanese fabrications lend technical expertise to the exquisite hand-finishing and color treatments he continues to explore with a nod toward wabi-sabi, the Japanese philosophy of imperfect perfection through iterative repetition. The resulting combination is a fascinating and expertly executed insight into Geller's own history as a continual source of inspiration.
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