It is a symbol of convenience, of mass production, and of mass consumption. Built on the wholesome principles of capitalism and fertilized with a steady helping of corporate greed – the place where we buy our food and has changed dramatically. Depending on how you look at it, the once humble Leave It To Beaver style corner supermarket has fallen victim to or benefited from the Gremlin fed after midnight transformation known as corporatism. Not too long ago, we would socialize with the staff and neighbours at the local supermarket, buy in-season produce grown regionally (or at least domestically), and ultimately feel good knowing where our money was going. Nowadays, we commute to these institutional suburban corporate SUPER-MARTs, where our transactions are carried out by faceless cashiers or self-serve check-outs, both equally indifferent about the Made in China purchases we just made, none of us with a clue of who is benefiting or being exploited for the money we just forked over.
Marlon Gobel is one of the most talent and creative designers in America at the moment. The former Director of Operations for Thom Browne and Assistant Creative Director for Michael Bastian, Gobel is one of, if not the best emerging men’s fashion designers out there today. Now into his fourth season, his looks are fresh, fun, well-tailored, and quirky. This is peacock menswear at its finest and it’s found a permanent home in the menswear store at Bergdorf’s. Not easy to pull off.
For Spring/Summer 2012, Gobel has found visual and metaphorical inspiration from the new age SUPER-MART. Much like the Pop Art movement’s pioneers and contemporaries the likes of Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, and Liu Bolin – Gobel has extracted key visual elements of the SUPER-MART and incorporated them into his latest SS12 collection. The HD fruit print dress shirts play on the meticulously organized produce displays for a new approach to camouflage, the bright pastels in the suits and accessories influenced by the flashy packaging and advertising. The Optical Refraction Vinyl Lens Jacket and pocket squares play on the ubiquitous plastic bags. ”The great thing about a supermarket or SUPER-MART is that it’s extremely sophisticated in the way that it’s created to entice you and draw you in and that’s what clothes are about. They’re there to draw attention to yourself,” explained Gobel in an interview with It’s All Style To Me and Luxsure.
An excellent collection, the SS12 pieces build upon the brand that the designer and his Director of Operations, Jace Bourgeois have been working so hard at to establish. From the pastel suits to the Walk-Over suede derby shoes, there isn’t a piece I wouldn’t want in my wardrobe. Gobel is a true original. A testament to that are the Gobel-inspired designs that have been cropping up in the collections of some of Europe’s most prestigious fashion houses and styling in recent magazine spreads (shades of Mr. American SS11 in W Magazine). For more runway and backstage photos of the Marlon Gobel Spring/Summer 2012 Collection please click here.
Spiro Mandylor – http://itsallstyletome.com