Fashion

VETEMENTS. WHAT IS IT?

About a month ago I was in Paris for fashion week and a trip with Ruinart, the city was buzzing: Vetements. Fashion people were extremely busy with this new brand, and I didn't understand a thing. Photos were constantly being posted and snapped of DHL vans with the big joke: “HAHA VETEMENTS!” And I understood nothing. Vete-who?

And I'm sure you've also seen the DHL joke pop up regularly or suddenly see DHL photos much more often than normal or hear people raving about Vetements this and Vetements that. To get straight to the point: Vetements is a clothing brand. It showed in Paris. The fashion world is completely taken with this brand, and that while it’s not exactly beautiful clothing.

But that is precisely the goal. Vetements is a phenomenon, a new group of anonymous designers led by Demna Gvasalia (who previously worked at Margiela) who come together to teach the fashion industry a lesson as it is. Instead of going along with the trend of beautiful and attractive and showing something like the rest of the French brands that shows women how they should look, they create collections that show how women already look. And that, apparently, the fashion world can greatly appreciate.

Vetements shows the world as it already is, a bit exaggerated here and over the top there, but otherwise all just very normal. And not without success: Matches and Net-a-Porter have pieces on offer, and every self-respecting fashion girl either has something in her closet or has her eye on something.

But don’t think that all this comes at a normal price, Vetements is ridiculously expensive. That famous DHL shirt is yours for 300 dollars, while a regular DHL version is only around 10 dollars. And thus the ‘real’ version is very cheap, the ‘designer version’ very expensive, and I think that alone is a beautiful statement. People are really so crazy these days to buy a very ugly, commercially cheap shirt for an absurd amount – because it’s trendy.

In short, Vetements is the new naughty kid in class, and I think we’re going to have a lot of fun with it in the coming time.