An Upcycled Dystopian Future
Dystopian future, upcycled clothes, adorable pups, and rainy Paris are just a few words one would use to describe Marine Serre's eccentric SS20 collection; the future of our world as seen through her eyes. As a vocal activist for environmental rights, Serre created a masterpiece of a collection where 50 percent of the articles derive from upcycled materials. The 27-year-old fashion creator attained the LVMH prize for young designers in 2018 which she has transformed into an upcycling studio for environmentally-conscious fashion innovation.
Her brand is divided through four diverse colored lines: green is vividly presented throughout the SS20 collection, signifying an ecofuturist line with base materials strictly from the end-of-cycle product, white conveying an easy and everyday look implementing core brand designs, red expressing red-carpet couture, and gold detailing extravagant and experimental daywear.
The French title Marée Noire translates to "Oil Slick", the headline used to describe the SS20 show during Paris Fashion Week. Like most of Serre's previous designs, she described the line as dark and menacing. Placed on the inclement Paris morning, the show doesn't so much as anticipate apocalypse as much as it lives it—the opening look, a ballooning black cape dress was Handmaid's Tale-esque in its modest severity. Serre casts individuals who are "closely knit together by their past experiences and shared troubles under the old establishment." These models exhibit variety in age, race, and what Serre describes as species. The show was designed with rebellion, radicalism, and autonomy in mind while pairing with textiles of conflicting animal prints and clashing florals.
One of the most notable aspects of Marée Noire stands as the diversity of runway looks with an assortment of fashion aspects. The models symbolize apocalypse survivors and their take on a new society, moving away from the old establishments of the outdated nature-culture divide. Looks ranged from sculpted dresses, leather pants, and uniform satin looks, to red-colored scarves and sheer-crafted tops. One of the most noteworthy pieces of the collection includes the oily, upcycled plastic raincoats paired with delicate purses and enchanting pooches.
Marine Serre's inspiration for the collection as well as the design of the Paris show symbolizes the "beautiful vision of doom" due to politics and violent climate change. "We have no choice but to adapt, to look at what is already there and what we have created, and work out new ways to live, to eat, to move, to dress…" With Serre's approach to environmentally conscious ethos, forward-thinking has led her to create signature styles like the crescent moon, masks and head coverings, and bodysuits. The atmospheric show sets the tone for the future, yielding conscious craft with an artisanal process dependent on sourcing and up-cycling textiles and prints.
In an interview with Vogue, Serre describes all the aspects of Marée Noire and the process of working backward, starting with what should not be included in the collection based on flexibility. Sourcing the materials is a complex process based on word-of-mouth, requiring travel to suppliers in France, Belgium, Germany, and Spain markets. Serre takes pride in her edgy looks, making pullovers from deadstock towels and embossing her crescent moon logo with a UV technique. She features the djellaba design in every collection, a garment created from six up-cycled scarves.
Marine Serre's SS20 collection shines as a bold statement of a dystopian world which could become our reality. Marée Noire is meant to be interpreted uniquely by each individual, ranging from romantic and intimate to shadier undertones. Even in these darker times, we can find poetry, as a mesmerizing rainbow of colors parade in the show's final walk escorted by the rain falling from Paris's gray skies, destructing beauty Serre strives to create.
Strike Out,
Writer: Alyssa Goldman
Editor: Gillian McKendree and Savannah Tindall
Tallahassee