SOME OF US IN TODAY’S TIME ARE STUCK IN OUR OWN PERSONAL CYCLES WHETHER IT BE CYCLES OF WAR, ADDICTIONS, TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS, RELIGION, ETC
THE FOCUS OF THE CLOTHING IN THIS COLLECTION IS ABOUT RESURGENCE, REINVENTING, TAKING BACK SPACE, AND TRANSCENDING BEYOND PREVIOUS HUMAN FORMS, PERSPECTIVES, AND BIGOTRIES. THIS IS SCREAMING FROM THE COLD AND MISTY MOUNTAINTOP, A SILENT PROCLAMATION.
TANK MUSCLE TOPS OF STRETCH SHEER COTTON/LYCRA ARE USED TO EXHIBIT A SUBTLE TOUCH OF INTIMACY WITH THE WEARERS SKIN, FALLING INTIMATELY ALONG THE BODY JOINTED WITH WRAP NECK STRAP (TO MUMMIFY AND UN-MUMMIFY AS PLEASED). FEATURING A CENTER BACK REMINISCENT OF A BROKEN SPINE, LACED WITH SPIKED STUDS OF RAGE COVERED GUNMETAL.
DRESSES EMBODY THE ESSENCE OF A” NEW SKIN”. NOT NECESSARILY BECAUSE OF HOW CLOSE IT THEY MAY BE FOR THE WEARER, BUT BECAUSE IN THIS NEW WORLD, OUR TRAUMA AND SCARS ARE MEANT TO BE PROMINENT AND REVERED. TRULY A BIG FUCK YOU TO THE SOCIAL STANDARDS THAT WOULD PLACE US IN SHAME OF THOSE “BLEMISHES”. DOUBLE LAYERED JERSEY/MESH FORM A SUBTLE YET BOISTEROUS “A” TO “Y”-SHAPE FLARE TO THE BOTTOM WITH A EITHER A LAYERED TULLE GREETING AND/OR MET WITH A RAW EDGE FINISH.THREADING COMMONALITIES LIKE SEVERE CUTOUTS OR HARSH RUCHING ON SIDE SEAMS, WERE SMALL DETAILS THAT CAN GESTER NOTES OF CHANGE OR TRANSFORMATION. DOUBLE LAYERED METALLIC JERSEY/NYLON MESH COMBINATIONS REPRESENTING A PAINFUL PAST THAT MOLD INTO A MORE UNIQUE PRESENT AND FUTURE.
BUTTON UP SHIRTS WITH CARVED SEAMS AND SHARPENED EDGES IN THE COLLAR, SLEEVE CUFFS, AND SWEEP EDGES. THESE FEATURE A REBEL CHEST CAVITY THAT EMBODIES THE GASPING OF AIR THAT DOES NOT SEEM TO BE FULLY BE UP FOR GRABS, AS MENTIONED IN THE PASSAGE ABOVE. A SORT OF LACING SYSTEM OF D-RINGS COATED WITH GUNMETAL AND ONE CONTINUOUS WAXED ROPE FOR A MORE TAILORED LOOK, FURTHERING THE STRUCTURE OF THE BACK SLOPE OF THE WEARER.
CURVED AND JIGSAW-LIKE OPENINGS IN JACKETS FOLLOWED BY EITHER A LOWERED WING-LIKE DRAPE TO SYMBOLIZED TEMPORARY REST. WHILE OTHER JACKETS CARRY THE WEIGHT OF LAYERS OF TULLE TO SYMBOLIZE THE OPPOSITE OF REST, THE OPPOSITE OF SOLITUDE AND PAST TIME, MORE LIKE AN ABRUPT AWAKENING. TAKING UP MORE OF THIS NEW ENVIRONMENT. THIS SEASON, THE SHOULDER IS MET IN A VARIETY OF WAYS. ALL OF WHICH FIGHT THE WEARERS SHOULDER AND GRAVITY. THE SHOULDERS ARE FOLLOWED BY A GHOSTLY CINCHED WAISTLINES, THEN FOLLOWED BY A BLOWN OUT HIP TO SEND OFF A EXAGGERATION IN THE SHAPE OF THE WEARER, TO TRANSFORM THE WAIST AND HIPS ALMOST LIKE A MONUMENT OF PEACE OR TO SCARE OFF INTRUDERS.
MODELS ARE WRAPPED IN A GAUZE HEAD WRAP ENCAPSULATING RECOVERY AND PERSEVERANCE. ELEMENTS OF THE HEAD WRAPPING MIXED MASTERED WITH THE IMAGINATIVE BRILLIANCE OF SHANIA ROBAN, FORMING A FEELING OF POTENT TENACITY AND FORTITUDE. I REMEMBER SEEING MY GREAT GRANDMOTHER GET UP EARLY IN THE MORNINGS, ESPECIALLY ON SUNDAYS AND OTHER SPECIAL OCCASIONS, TO GET READY AND DOLLED UP NO MATTER ANY PAIN SHE WAS GOING THROUGH. SHE WAS NOT JUST ONE TOUGH PERSON I GREW UP SEEING, BUT HER STRENGTH AND ABILITY TO STILL BE SOFT AND LOVING WAS INSPIRING TO MY WHOLE FAMILY. I KNOW STILL, EVEN AS SHE RESTS, SHE WATCHES OVER US.
A SUBTLE TRIBUTE TO ONE OF THE MANY WOMEN WHO RAISED ME.
WELCOME TO ANTHONY JAMES™,
COLLECTION I - "PURGATORIO"
SS25
🖤
The last thing I remembered was hearing a familiar voice talking about them in somewhat of a eulogy…
“Here lies one who impacted souls in a previous life.”
Still not knowing where they woke up, yet still carrying their curiosity to search for the answer to all questions.
Then there was a sudden, slightly inverted gasp for air that never truly felt more present. Brutal silence, followed with a
brisk cold air rubbing my skin so inhospitably that it felt like a solid figure was present.
Heavy baritone and featherweight voices are presenting themselves within the gusty winds and hazy smoke,
surrounding them.
With one look around, right then and there, forced acceptance of this state is plunged through my coarse veins and flows
throughout my spine.
This came across me and was a foreign concept until I started to make out what the little voices are saying around me:
w e l….c o m e e e…
Not in danger, but not safe either.
Not afraid, but still cautious and on edge.
That feeling of acceptance gets stronger within, they started to levitate.
I heard the voices get closer, as they slowly started to unravel these bandages on my body, bit by bit.
As they unravel, they slowly reveal themselves, like a form of dancers mirroring each other.
Then a being of mass power comes and grabs my head, and sets the other voices aside. Then we flew into a beam of
lighting together.
LOOKS I - XIII - OVERVIEW
CREATIVE DIRECTION/DESIGNER:
ANTHONY JAMES
MAKEUP:
SHANIA ROBAN
PHOTOGRAPHY:
NICOLAS LEON
STYLING:
JACIAIHUS WATSON
MAKEUP:
SHANIA ROBAN
TALENT/CAST (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE):
TRACI JOHNSON
TIMOTHY KINGSLEY
GEMMA (NEED HER LAST NAME)