NYFW Up-and-Comer Kenneth Nicholson Finds “Grace and Beauty in the Struggle”
Remember when Shepard Fairey put Barack Obama’s face and the word hope on a poster? Remember when it became the symbol of a presidential candidate who inspired genuine progress and change? That was 2008 and there was a bright, shiny light at the end of a long, dark tunnel. Hope really was in reach. Today, not so much. At the start of a new decade, and of another fashion month, Fairey’s artwork feels like some long-forgotten relic. Not to be a complete and total downer, but things are shit. The Senate just let Donald Trump off the hook and known racist Rush Limbaugh has the Presidential Medal of Freedom around his neck. Hope is hard to come by. But that’s not at all the case in rising designer Kenneth Nicholson’s world.
On Wednesday, the Los Angeles native who spent time in the Navy after graduating from San Francisco’s Academy of Art showed his fall 2020 men’s and women’s collection, kicking off New York Fashion Week during the few short days of menswear shows. The hopeful feeling started with his choice of color palette: Pastel suiting for men and yellow tops and skirts for women were meant to be “lighthearted” and “joyous.” Nicholson titled his collection “From Grandma’s Couch.” He reinterpreted crochet doilies, carpet textiles, lampshade crystal, and enamel figurines into groovy patterned knit dresses, ’70s suits with glittery buttons, and a sculptural mermaid-shape skirt that looked like it was upcycled from a kitchen apron. One male model wore a beautiful red velvet zip-up corset, and Nicholson used a latch-hooking technique for sweaters and vests that he watched his grandmother use when he was a kid. The lessons we learn from our elders, from our history, and the way we use those lessons to evolve, were an important part of Nicholson’s message.
As the show began, two men covered in glitter head to toe, one in gold and the other in silver, and wearing boxing shorts and gloves, began to fake fight in slow motion. As they danced like butterflies, a soulful and meditative soundtrack played that mixed a gospel sermon from Bishop T.D. Jakes and passages from The Color Purple with songs from The Wiz, as well as hits by James Brown, Kendrick Lamar, and Billie Holiday. The boxers, Nicholson said, “represent this struggle and tension that can happen in life. When you dare to create something new, you are often presented with opposition. The glitter symbolizes the grace and beauty in the struggle.”
He has the aura of someone who sees everything and everyone through rose-colored glasses, but he’s far from naive. Nicholson is clear and precise about the fact that right now things are indeed very bad; still, he sees his collection as “a statement about not shying away from reality but instead tackling it head on and allowing those challenging times to shape a better you.” He continues: “In my view, a positive way of looking at challenges when they present themselves is that you now know what needs to be developed and made stronger. In that mindset, it ceases to be about struggle for struggle’s sake and the challenge begins to serve you and help you grow.”
Photo: Jordan Trey1/17
Photo: Jordan Trey2/17