Where am I? Who are these people? Where am I going? Who am I? Why? These are the questions driving Natasha Zinko’s SS24 collection, where she finds herself trudging through deeper mud than ever before to explore the very thing that makes us human and has enabled our survival up to this point – our extraordinary capacity for adaptation amidst even the direst circumstances.
Humans have always been running. It used to be by foot from dangerous predators. Now, it’s by train, by car, by plane, across countries and borders, pursued relentlessly by inescapable global threats which now feel frighteningly ordinary: political turmoil, war, the environmental crisis. The Russo-Ukrainian war has been going on since 2014 and has displaced approximately 17 million people. According to UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency, approximately 21.5 million people per year were forced to leave their homes due to extreme weather-related issues between 2008 and 2016. They also claim that there could be 1.2 billion climate refugees by 2050. We ran in the past, we run in the present, and, without a doubt, we will run in the future.
Natasha Zinko
But life goes on. And in the meantime:
Welcome to THE CAMP, an optimistic vision of modern-day life in motion.
When you’re on the move, two hands are never enough. This season, pockets jut out of just about everything. Hoodies cropped; sweatpants, wide; caps, embroidered, with sawed-off visors; a long black cape, hooded, lightweight. Backpacks come off backs, move to fronts, transform into vests fastened by straps, repurposed. Cargo practicality is combined with motorcycle gear in the cargo-moto pieces: flared denim trousers with motorcycle ribbing on the knees, covered in oversized square pockets; leather overalls with motorcycle accents on the back and pockets too.
In a polarised world, one thing that unites us is underwear. We all wear it; we all travel with it, stuff it in suitcases; so why do we hide it? Natasha says it’s time to normalise it. Therefore, like pockets, white elastic bands are almost omnipresent, peeking out of unbuttoned trousers, reading “NATASHA ZINKO ORIGINALS” in thick black letters. Look 23 is a collection of men’s briefs stitched together asymmetrically alongside a bra to assemble a spacious, open dress, sleeveless and floor-length. The skirt in Look 25, topless, meanwhile, is literally four white briefs, layered, with gaps between them, attached at different heights and angles. Bags too: leather, monochrome, they are brief-shaped and specially stitched to convey all the necessary details which it may be inappropriate to discuss in this press release.
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With love,
FWO
