The Tamesis
Gong Li’s latest 8ON8 series, titled Double Adsorption, suffers from its own unrealistic narrative framework, which at first glance seems too random to parse. As the designer later told it, the story follows a traveler protagonist who arrives at a mysterious garden inhabited by a strange species of two-headed, double-shelled snails. He said the story was the result of “thoughts running through my head”, adding: “I always try to show something surreal based on reality.”
After the show, Gong spoke as he presented a space that was his entry in a creative direction competition held during Shanghai Fashion Week. It presents a kind of cabin, in which a bed dominates and is surrounded by rails of clothing from the collection, as well as what Gong calls “meaningless pieces”: mushroom-shaped fabric-clad speakers, and wooden trays and bowls surrounding skate wheels.
Seeing this space really helped frame the shows he had shown previously. It shows that the almost arbitrary eclecticism of Gong’s costumes is subject to a kind of Lewis Carroll logic: absurdity and naiveté as strategies for bypassing traditional elements. Under this banner, the oversized cuffs sewn on many pants, or the halo-like faux fur fringe on the shoulders and arms of leather jackets, struck a strange, disarming note. The padded and inflated diamond-shaped vest vaguely resembles a snail’s protective shell and also resembles a life jacket.
Waistcoats and shirts with Gorpcore gusseted pockets, some ultra-refined Asics collaboration sneakers, a knitted-cut garden gnome hat, a plaid shirt and shorts covered in leopard print, a wrap skirt worn under outerwear with specialized ventilation to make the bag stand out, a tonal floral jacquard parka, and a quarter zip inlaid with knitted collection icon emoji plaid. A hybrid, vaguely reminiscent of Mario’s aesthetic world. Several sweaters feature more of the diamond pattern, but as the lines and diamond-shaped furniture are completely rearranged, it has almost no relation to the controlling logic of the original.
During Gong’s finale, the models took the stage as Leroy Gomez sang over the sound system. “I’m just a well-intentioned soul. Oh, Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood.” Escape through misunderstanding seems to be one of the intentions of this 8ON8 show.
