A Touch of Maske

I feel like I've gotten 'inspiration fatigue' from number of times these Phyllis Galembo 'Maske' images have popped up on Tumblr and blogs ever since it came out in September.  If you want to have an anthropologic field day with fashion intersecting with ethnography then these portraits of characters and costumes of Afircan masquerade in countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Zambia are here for dissection and eye candy consumption.  

It seems natural then that Alberto Marani, designer of tap-on-the-nose insider brand Marani, after being influenced by Pieter Hugo's monograph The Hyena and The Other Men for his S/S 10 collection and Zwelethu Mthethwa's photography for S/S 11, should turn to Galembo's work for his latest A/W 11-12 collection.  Except the riot of colour, the myriad of textiles explosion and the sinister flamboyance which clad these characters doesn't filter into Marani's work.  Instead, he does what he knows will work best for his quiet but impactful clothes.  Marani employs a splay of fringed acrylic hair gathered into a dense-like brush, on the edge of a trouser pocket, on the cuffs of a jacket or a pair of trousers, tiered on the sleeve of a wool cashmere coat or at its most playful, swinging from the front of a jade green skirt.  It's a hint of pomp and ceremony without being as blatant as one could be when inspired by the images above.  

I suppose the mere suggestion of animal-esque properties in the fringing is enough especially when we're talking about weighty coats, jackets that have staying power and well-tailored trousers.  I like that Marani has been working on tempering the showpiece element of his brands – like the memorable skirts from his S/S 10 collection that never made it to the shop floor – with the knitwear side of his business that showcase his impeccable choice of Italian manufacturers.  This collection seems like the happy medium of those two things where strong wardrobe staples come with a pleasing bit of bristle…