Fashion designers say the darnedest things, bless their cotton socks. Especially when you ask them what the inspiration is for their latest collection. Luella Bartley cited “Blue Peter” as one of hers (yanks, that’s a very long-running kids’ TV show known more for ingenuity with empty toilet rolls than for aesthetic excellence). But so far, the Eyebrow Chronicles Prize for Ponciest Inspiration at London Fashion Week goes to … Marios Schwab, for claiming to have been inspired by the goddesses Athena, Venus (Guardian/Schwab: go straight to Hades for mixing Greek and Roman. Surely you meant Aphrodite?) and Hera, and Plato’s notion of the soul as being divided into three parts. Notice a theme? Of course you do. But why stop there, Marios? Let’s see, what else comes in threes? Graces, little pigs, stooges, musketeers, bad things. Why not throw them into the mix? Or maybe you did.
Marios Schwab: deeply philosophical
I wonder what Plato would have made of this outfit?
Would he have recognised instantly that it was referring to his tripartite description of the soul? Surely the inky black bodice represents thumos, or spirit, while the flesh-coloured middle is epithumia, or desire, and the long skirt stands for logos (reason). Or maybe not! Who knows? Not Socrates — he said as much himself, according to Plato.
But the point is that this dress (is it a dress? A skirt and two tops? A top, a wound dressing, and a curtain?), whatever else it may be, is clearly a metaphor for society and the rifts that divide us as humans. I know that’s what I look for in a garment. What about you?
Socrates: not attending London Fashion Week