Rebellious Grunge Trends, Spring-summer 2016
Diala Aschkar, Art Director at Orient Palms, France

Rebellious Grunge

Trends, Spring-Summer 2016

Grunge is back this season for modern urbanites. With roots in punk and heavy-metal, grunge music was rebellious in the sense of disenchantment in social norms and a need for more freedom. Here is my selection of looks that are reminiscent of 90’s style icons like Liv Tyler, Gwen Stefani and Drew Barrymore.

Vivienne Westwood, the enfant terrible of London designers created a grunge-punk version of the "Venetian Carnival". Her show is an activist event drawing awareness to the environment threats on Venice. I like the deconstructed tailoring in the brown and denim dresses. Yet, they are still very wearable and enhance the woman’s forms. The oversized sweater as a dress is typical of the 90’s. The punk touch is completed with the disheveled hair.

Westwood turns 90’s grunge into her own unusual elegance: a loose long-sleeve tied on the waist mixed with an ample skirt, or an over-sized jacket on top of a deconstructed ruffled dress.

Guy Laroche’s collection channels grunge-punk with a load of asymmetry, lacerated fabrics and high-waist trousers with chains.

A deconstructed army top with a bare shoulder and trousers with a curvy high-waste create a very feminine and yet defiant look.

©PixelFormula

Alexander Wang’s effortless street-cool translates well into combos of crop-tops and low-slung pants with stripes, denim, leather and chains.

There’s something a bit rough and messy but very sexy in the looks below: Fringed army jacket, mesh and torn jeans. A long silky and sporty jacket on top of mesh and leather. Torn shorts on a boxer short base and a striped jacket.

Marques’ Almeida smokey eyes make-up and bed-head hair suited well the 90’s destroy grunge looks. Though it all still feels a bit latin with the roughly cropped ruffles, asymmetric hems and transparencies.

Each x Other’s silk pajama pants unexpectedly paired with a black leather bra, a sarong dress neglectfully open on a bra-bustier or a feathery vest on a trashy skin colored dress, all show a disaffected style. Dangling straps add to the delinquency feel.

Alexander Wang’s entirely white collection for Balenciaga looked very romantic though sporty urban. He used simple fabrics like linens, cottons and silks worked in an artisanal way with a hand–touched quality that you can see in the details of the silky jumpsuit or in the lingerie embellishments of the crop top and the lacerated low-slung trousers.

Calvin Klein’s deconstructed grunge presented minimalistic unfinished looks with loose dresses and over-sized deflated bra shapes, sometimes sketched out by chains.

There is also a touch of sporty grunge with this version of the slip dress or the simple t-shirt underneath a "hanging" dress with openings and swaying straps.

Tending more to the grunge-goth, these two black looks from Calvin Klein and DKNY recreate the same dark nonchalance that characterizes the trend.

Did I mention I was listening to Nirvana’s 1993 Unplugged concert while writing this trend? (Of course I was...)