Summer Dreams Ripped at the Seams
Bifo, Shimura, Fortgens and 16 pre-owned items
Welcome to the sixteenth edition of Not I, an ongoing series appearing every Friday or Saturday in which I share a selection of the pre-owned items currently on my personal favorites list. It’s style experimentation, deep-dive thrifting, and instant fashion-universe-expansion all wrapped up into one browsable unit. Read more about the idea behind the series, and find all previous editions, here.
I’ve been laughed at by several people recently for having never used ChatGPT. “I can live with that. I don’t like AI anyway,” goes my usual reply. “Come on,” they say, “the benefits are legion: automation of tasks, fast data analysis, optimizing of processes.” “But,” I ask, “what stands to benefit from these benefits? A carbon-free, peaceful, and egalitarian world where there’s common prosperity for all?” Silence. Death stares. “Whatever,” they respond. “It’s the future. There’s no point in opposing it.” Well, read this book by Bifo and you’ll realize: it’s the only point.
I’m of course exaggerating when I say I don’t like AI. I do like it. But only for its limitations. I enjoy it when it struggles. When it’s in doubt. When it starts to feel uncertain. What makes me uncomfortable, though, is whenever AI knows it doesn’t know something, and also intuites why it’s unknowledgeable of it. The moment it shows some sort of awareness of its own struggles, doubts, and uncertainties I usually decide to dislike it again.
So, earlier this week I googled: “Camiel Fortgens design influences.” And this is what Google AI Overviews answered: “The aesthetic underpinnings of Camiel Fortgens’ fashion design are notoriously difficult to capture.” A strangely uncanny answer that’s as true as it’s completely useless.
AI evidently let me down, and I took it upon myself to explore the Fortgensian aesthetic realm for this week’s series. There’s the anti-fashion spirit, for sure — early Kawakubo, Margiela, and what have you. There’s the influence of the style of ordinary elderly people on the corner of the street in Amsterdam, Brussels or Paris. There’s that mix of craftsmanship and slight absurdity through which “archetypal clothes” — mostly vintage staples from the ‘60s and ‘70s — are deconstructed and reinterpreted. And, of course, there’s the signature detailing — from imperfect stitching to uneven, fraying hems — that’s rapidly being incorporated into this broader movement against minimalist Scandi-style.
As the Japanese mathematician Goro Shimura once said about a colleague: “He made a lot of mistakes. But he made mistakes in a good direction. I tried to imitate him. But I’ve realized that it’s very difficult to make good mistakes.” I can tell you that browsing the internet for pre-owned Fortgensian pieces is the perfect way to realize just how true this statement is. A bad mistake is relatively easy to make: you just apply it top-down as some sort of decorative element. That’s probably why there’s an infinite amount of ripped jeans and paint splattered t-shirts on the web. A good mistake, however, is much harder and rarer: it arises from within the depths of construction. And that holds for clothes as much as for mathematical equations, apparently.
This week’s list of picks features spring-summer items from a Fortgensian realm of things: pieces by Fortgens, pieces inspired by Fortgens, pieces that may have inspired Fortgens, pieces needed for that Fortgens look, and pieces from Ancellm, Paul Harnden, Sears and others that for one reason or another made me think of Fortgens. By the way, what got me in this particular mood this week was the news that the brand’s on the official Paris Fashion Agenda this June for their debut presentation. What will come of that? AI has something resembling an answer.
Camiel Fortgens - Technical Short Mac ‘Sand’
Tanaka - Sun Bleached Work Jeans in ‘Pink’
Phigvel - Air Crew Cap (Free Size)
Solognac - Wellington Boots
Camiel Fortgens - Puffed Shopper Tote Bag
Barbour - Distressed Waxed Border Jacket
Ancellm - Embroidery Uneven Sweat Shirt ‘Terracotta’
Camper - Pelotas (Size 45)
Paul Harnden - Shirts in Yellow and Blue
Casey Casey - Washed Cotton Utility Trousers
Reinhard Plank - Cyen Baseball Cap
Sears - ‘70s Cardigan
Hermès - Cropped Jacket from 2000s Margiela-era
Stepney Workers Club - Dellow Raw Canvas ‘Ecru’
Camiel Fortgens - Blue Knit
That’s it for this week! Thanks for reading and for your support.