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“Every creative, I think, is a suspicious mind,” said 032c’s Maria Koch at a preview. It’s about an attitude that interrogates, she explained. About asking questions that lead to interesting answers, even if they’re not the right ones.
Right, in this case, meaning traditional or dogmatic, and thus often not correct at all. “A suspicious mind is an antithesis to the state of mind of a bigot,” Koch’s show notes elaborated. It’s a timely consideration. In Paris this week, European designers can’t help but ask about “you know…Trump,” yet there’s an acute awareness that American Trumpism isn’t an isolated matter but part of a larger wave of conservatism that has hit culture with the subtlety of a monster truck driving on an ice rink.
Koch’s interpretation of this moment comes with a blend of takes on upper class elegance—sharp overcoats, classy A-line sheaths, pretty flared skirts—rendered in unconventional fabrics and with details that give them a primal or dystopian feel: teeth-shaped beads and charms, floral silk jacquards with “melting” daisies, a super soft “Bambi” mohair sweater and another covered in white plaster. This element of the show, which provided some welcome visual interest, was informed by a festival in the Alps. “People dress up as monsters to escape the old and embrace the new, which I love,” Koch explained. This subversion of tradition felt apt. Koch describes her clothes as anti-zeitgeist, but this collection was timely.
So far, the 032c brand experiment has been a slow burn, but today’s show was an honest, confident stride forward: less merch-y than past collections and with more stuff to desire. So, can Koch pull this off? Can a media property be a fashion brand? The cool-girl rendition of some classic pieces, like a negligee with backpack handles in lieu of the classic spaghetti strap detail, looked cool and like what one would expect from an editorial operation like 032c. Sometimes even the most suspicious of creative minds could do with leaning into the clear-cut. Case in point, after its initial punk soundtrack, the show wrapped with Elvis’s “Suspicious Minds.” An unexpected yet perfectly obvious surprise.
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