Palomo Spain's fall 2019 men's collection, 1916, shown during New York Fashion Week, was described to PAPER backstage by designer Alejandro Gómez Palomo as an "unconventional, avant-garde ballet."
Related | Palomo Spain's Avant-Garde Ballet
To illustrate this concept, Palomo incorporated a decidedly more sensual take on men's tailoring, rather than converting womenswear motifs to menswear. Classically Romantic and Victorian-era elements — from dramatic opera gloves, luxurious tiers of draped fabric, and ruffled collars — informed clothing so fluid and movement-based, it's impossible to not notice that Palomo had in fact realized the unusual ballet he had in mind.
A key source inspiration for the 1916 collection was Serguei Diaguilev's Ballet Russes and its influence on Spain. For its corresponding campaign, created by Berlin-based artist Matt Lambert, these romantic ideas were revised through a distinctly queer lens. The resulting images are works of art that you might see in a museum, showing the unconstrained Palomo Spain man entwined in the bodies of another.
The clothes decide the movement. It's an orgy without saying so, a (spilled) tea party at which guests sip from straws. Asses are grabbed and necks are kissed. Expressions of pleasure are unabashedly visible, reflecting modern attitudes about sex and sensuality. Silhouettes are clothed and undressed. (Also, I need that full-body fishnet moment, like yesterday.) It's almost as if the renowned grace of Diaguilev's own dancers lives on in these bodies.
Find more information about Palomo Spain's 1916 collection, here.
Photographer: Matt Lambert
Stylist: Alicia Padron
Production: Jannis Birsner, Aida Cabrera
Grooming: Guillermo Matellano
Post Production: Studio RM
Casting: Antonio Delgado