Études presents the fall winter 2023 collection in Paris.
Collection notes
After stepping back to examine the peripheral limits of our urban anthropology, the Études Autumn Winter 2023-24 collection recenters the narrative on the epicentre of city life. In Paris, the concept of ‘le centre ville’ is almost an abstract notion, yet in other metropoles it is a vital expression of togetherness, a signifier of connectivity, and a melting pot of both the spectacular and the banal. It is where the most ancient and contemporary elements of civilizations intertwine. As such, the modern city is layered with a hybrid visual language — one that begins with architecture and extends throughout the bustling landscape. Mitigating the homogeneity of the industrial, it’s accented in perpetuity by the spontaneous intervention of the human hand and fleeting encounters with intimacy and ultimately, with love.
Manifesting in materiality, iconography and the bold proposition of an amplified silhouette, the season’s evolution of the Études vocabulary is fortified by a muted palette that grades through dusty rose and arctic blue to deep green, chocolate, mud, concrete, black and beige. Adopting the archetypes of the masculine wardrobe inextricably linked with city life, the collection is built on tonal harmonies; emboldened by hand and industrial processes from raw-edged tailoring to bleached and destroyed denim. Roller-printed felt wool, padded nylons and dark satins join winter sartorial fabrics in a layered discourse between notions of sportswear, uniform, and formality. Naive emblems of the street are revealed in hyperreal 3D and stitch embroidery, from padlocks and antique coins to playful memento mori. The Études bomber jacket finds new forms in parka and hooded shapes, and with new fabrics and finishes including stoned cotton canvas, optical nylon, leather and embroidered iconography. Ample fluid trousers are layered with hybrid mock-neck blazers, double-breasted suit jackets, and fuzzy textured knits. Accessories plumb the depths of nostalgia, from souvenir keychains, knotted leather belts lanyards to weathered baseball caps, fingerless gloves and mirrored metallic sunglasses.
The collection grew through an intense exchange over a few months: shifting images and discussing meanings. It was like a ping pong that opened new views and options. It was a very inspiring process that brought things slowly to their final form. For me, the fabrics and the shapes took the role of a new and very sculptural medium. Worn so directly on the body, they are more dynamic than a book or installation could ever be. In that sense I always had a strong fascination with clothes and how they can function as a messenger that shares an abstract meaning, like an emotional layer.» — Batia Suter
The collaboration with Études is a collective result of our exploration of the term ‘La Cité’, based on material from my two Parallel Encyclopedias that in a way also are very close to this topic. It feels like saying something about the present with the help of the past, through this practice of finding and grouping existing images. It’s about leaning on history, and looking for something that feels timeless.
Complementing the collection, a creative exchange with the Amsterdam-based Swiss artist Batia Suter unfolds. Suter’s practice centres on the reinterpretation and contextualisation of found imagery through installation, collage and print publishing. Returning to imagery from her seminal books Parallel Encyclopedia #1 (2004-07) and Parallel Encyclopedia #2 (2016), Suter intervenes directly upon a suite of garments. Her graphic assemblages appear as a palimpsest of time and place: printing, embroidery and appliqué patches that investigate the phenomenon of cities throughout the ages, from diagrams and folklore to fragments of mediaeval architecture and glimpses of a globalised urban history.
The Études Autumn Winter 2023-24 fashion show took place inside a multi-storey parking garage in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, featuring an exclusive live performance by the French recording artist Koudlam. As an open call to the Études community, an interactive graffiti window painted in ‘blanc de Meudon’ limestone paint invites guests to engrave their own messages and leave a mark on the show set as a collective gesture of creative rebellion.
