Telfar Fall/Winter 2017

This season, Telfar mixed up materials, making garments made of strips of different fabric—nylons, knits, denims. “It was fusing garments really,” said Clemens. “There’s a jean mixed with a sweater mixed with a turtleneck mixed with a t-shirt. It’s really a blur of genres of clothing.”

The simplicity is deceptive. The garments looked beautifully made, and, on a practical note, cozy. And the looks were scattered with hints of weirdness: knit knee socks that looked like lederhosen, painterly caps, layers of sleeves. And there were sneakers, made in collaboration with Puma, that are sure to be popular. 

The show also had a pointedly political take. As he did last season, Ryan Trecartin composed a poem that served as the soundtrack for the show (the artist recited it over music by Andrew David Ross). It included lines like, “All bodies are illegal;” “It’s ninety degrees in February, it shouldn’t be;” and my personal favorite, “I have instructed Homeland Security to get fucking wasted.”

“It’s time to be political,” said Clemens. “It’s time to pick a side.”