Fashion designer EDWARD CRUTCHLEY presented the Spring Summer 2023 The Only Constant in Life is Change Collection as a part of the ongoing London Fashion Week. For the season, Crutchley collaborated with Aron Alexandros De Vallier Petridis. The two were inspired by the shapeshifting and constantly changing Greek sea god Proteus, which serves as a metaphor for the gender-fluid queer community.
SPRING SUMMER 2023 COLLECTIONS
This fragment, attributed to Heraclitus of Ephesus, who, in his susceptibility to melancholia went on to bear the title “the weeping philosophy”, shall serve as a premie for our brief, but collective sojourn. Within the unexplored waters of change, it is impossible for any human to step into the same waters twice, as Heraclitus enlightens us:
“Πάντα ῥεῖ” (Everything always flows).
Dynamics begin to form:
Sea contra land, flow contra rigidity, myth contra realism, relieving amorphousness contra constricting framework, otherness contra conformity.
How can these differences be reconciled?
The ancient Greeks had an intricate relationship with the ever-changing sea. While a resource, a spring of power, the sea’s otherness, its every-changing unpredictable nature, brute force and indomitable will were feared.
At their core many stories within Greek mythology are about interpersonal conflict. The solution is often a form of metamorphosis. Liminal beings, bestowed with the power of transition or change act as bearers of resolution. Unlike humans, their very essence allows them to shift through contrasting realms: the mortal and the divine. Land and sea.
Proteus (Πρωτεύς), a liminal being that not only dwells in but also embodies rivers and oceanic bodies of water exemplifies this. When revealed to the human eye, Proteus takes on the “Old man of the Sea” form, when concealed he enjoys the epithet of (God of) “elusive sea change”. And while he bears the gift of prophecy, in his reluctance to share it with humanity, Proteus shape shifts. Proteus will only enlighten those seeking to know the only constant (which is change) if they are able to catch him mid-metamorphosis.
His capabilities endure in the English language. We still use the word “protean” to describe the ability to change intermittently and effortlessly. Much like fashion.
Perhaps, the only way to peacefully coexist with change is to be protean ourselves.
Perhaps, we will capture Proteus on our sojourn today.
– Aron Alexandros De Vallier Petridis
Styling: Julian Ganio
Casting: Sophie Lynas at LEDA Casting
Production: Antony Waller
Press Release: Dal Chodha
Shoes: Roker
Jewellery and Head Pieces: Victoria Rickard and Gianluigi Zoccheddu
Millinery: Stephen Jones
Serpatine Rock Chokers: David Crutchley
Movement Direction: Brieuc Breitenstein
Music: Mickey O’Brien
Historial and Cultural Consultant: Aron Alexandros de Vallier Petridis
Fragrance Design: Edward Lorenz
Hair: Richard Phillipart at Gary Represents sponsored by L’Oreal Professional
Makeup: Michelle Dacillo sponsored by Weleda
Nails: Marie Louise Coster at Nylon Artists using Louella Belle
Lighting Design and Videography: Hydra Design
Runway Photographer: Chris Yates
Backstage and Look-book Photography: Francisco Gomez de Villaboa
Graphic and Textile Design: James Bosely Studio
Embroidery: The London Embroidery Studio
Wovens Production: TRUK 1609
Studio Team: Karen Coughlan, Aron de Vallier, Ava Coffen, Aaron James Ford, Hilary Watts, Yong Hui Tan, Precious Ikekhua, Willow Prieto-Johnson, Lucas Chaillou, Oliver Julius Ross, Lucy Rogers, Mitja Olenik, with thank to Niall Sloane.
Thanks to: L’Oreal Professional, Weleda, Louella Delle, Bower Roebuck, TRUK 1609
