A beauty pageant queen. Debutantes. A pop star. These have been, in order, the protagonists of Benjamin Barron and Bror August Vestbø’s All-In shows. The design duo have a habit of building their collections (as well as issues of their magazine), around imaginary characters, so last night in Paris the world met… drum roll… Allina.
Her backstory is hazy, but one thing is for certain, she is a direct descendent of last collection’s teen idol dress, a patchworked column made using upcycled concert tees of top charting female artists. This season’s show opened with a very mini tube dress in the “merch” vein featuring an image of the brand’s self-created pop sensation and sort of alter ego (Allina is All-In with an “a” at the end), a slim, blonde diva (no surprise there) who leans into an air-brushed kind of glamour. This artwork is not AI generated, but is a retouched photograph of a friend of the designers. Further blurring the line between reality and fantasy, as well as extending the story beyond the visual dimension, the music created for the show by Smerz, a Norwegian electronic duo who All-In have worked with previously, will be released as an EP under the name Allina.
All-In’s collection number four was very much like an album; the designs took the viewer from point A to point B. As Barron explained on a call, the garments related a tale “about Allina’s fall from fame, so it starts off with her as the ideal form of herself, but then things start to unravel as she ages.” The sense of things coming apart was conveyed by a black sequin décolleté and backless minidress with diamanté trim that used negative space to dramatic effect. It looked as if it had been cut away from the top of the thigh to below the knee; a piece of fabric hanging from the back of the skirt connected the top half of the look to the bottom.
Allina’s “attachment” issues were illustrated by the looks that had hangers attached, from which hung vintage slips that were more granny than glam, to chart the diva’s aging and fall from fame. Said Vestbø: “We used a lot of mixed materials that felt a bit pop star Las Vegas, like crystals and sparkles and short skirts with these kind of old woman references, like the tin cans or long nightgowns. There’s also a powder puff.”
These assemblages also played with the concept of putting up a facade, which was also addressed in a more immediately relatable way in the sweater dress worn by Delfine Bafort. The hem had been extended and only the front was attached to the body of the sweater, which was worn on top of the body. It was suspended by ropes of pearls at the neck, leaving it backless, and the model’s hands slipped through the cuffs, creating a batwing effect. The result was a sort of paper-doll flatness that was very intriguing.
The tin cans that Vestbø mentioned were the round tops of cookie tins that are often repurposed as sewing boxes, and which have become a meme theme. A plate used for the same purpose was wrapped tightly in nylon and fitted into the hole intended for the head in a T-shirt. This was styled as a sort of waist wrap over white jeans and paired, chicly, with a Flash Dance-style top. That off-the-shoulder style wasn’t the only ’80s reference in the collection; there were also super high-cut maillots, some purple velour, and a micro mini made of a twisted piece of quilted material in lingerie pink.
Up until this point, All-In’s practice has had Surrealist touches (chance encounters with found objects) and collage. Helping to ground All-In a bit as it prepares for growth, Lotta Volkova, who has modeled for the brand, worked with Barron and Vestbø on the creation and styling of this campy collection, which was more sassy than sweet. The dreaminess was missing, as befits the storyline, but there’s more to it than that. Assemblage and deconstruction are the main techniques with which Barron and Vestbø have Cindarella-ed old clothes into new, now pattern making is part of the game: going forward they’ll have to be less connected to one-off materials, which shifts the dynamics of kitsch in the brand from the fabrics to the narrative around them.
While Barron noted that “an element of randomness” remains important to the brand’s process, the designers are developing new ways of working in the interest of growing the business. Having launched shoes for spring 2023, this season the duo worked on clothes that could be made from patterns and go into production. “One thing we’ve started to realize,” he said, “is it’s exciting for us, and I think for other people, to make these one of a kind pieces, but it’s also exciting to see people wear the clothing.”
