The Tamesis
“Rising from a denied existence, born of darkness, forbidden, guilty, untamed, intact…” In her new series, Laura Gert explores the cultural theme of “female villains,” so the presentation began with a poetic association on the subject that she created with her artist friend (and actor) Samja Zaid. “Female villains almost always appear as adult women. When a woman is no longer controllable, she becomes evil in the narrative,” Gert said after the show. “My past spring collections were very vulnerable at their core, which was in a way the next stage of the female journey: we own our bodies and our sexuality and we stop apologizing.”
The series is mainly black and is indeed full of sexiness. It came in the form of delicate mesh skirts and dresses, some embellished with sequins and embroidery, plenty of drop waists (there was even some back cleavage), and some really nice sheer knit dresses and tops.
Gerte continues to stay true to its brand ethos of using only upcycled and deadstock materials and minimizing waste wherever possible. So that also applies to her brand collaboration with Dr. Martens this season: Instead of using new boots, she sourced old ones on second-hand platforms and reworked them using a variety of hand-lacing techniques into leather bustiers, calf-length lace-up skirts, and even bolero-length jackets.
Gerte’s beloved redesigned jersey and printed T-shirt styles also make an appearance, as well as her signature suiting. This includes blazers, coat dresses and midriff-revealing tops. Shiny low-rise suit trousers and pencil skirts with hook-and-eye accents were further highlights.
Many of Gerte’s pieces can be worn in very different ways, and in stylist Luisa Probst she’s clearly found a close collaborator who understands and executes this well. Sexiness in Gert’s eyes was never vulgar. Instead, it’s a business-like, sophisticated, classy sexiness you’d also imagine on the red carpets of this world. The choice of all-black – a choice the designer initially shunned – gave the collection extra strength and coherence.
