FW26’s take on family ties
What happens around the dinner table, stays at the dinner table. That’s the kind of energy Jen-Fang Shueh’s Jenny Fax brings to her FW26 collection,“Family Issue.” Through the agonising existentialist question of “who even am I?” (think stock image palms in the air, looking up to the sky), Fax answers with poise: “Family is what makes you special.” So, for this season, why not turn around and reminisce about the organic occurrences shared within a family home?
Once again, Fax stages her traditional cast of soft yet eccentric female protagonists (thankfully, no men allowed at the table). And no generations are left aside, from lightly quilted cream-like baby rompers to grandma’s adored floral pattern on a shirt, they all make a special guest appearance. Long-sleeved shirts are half-put on, skirts scrunch up as if you’ve been sitting at the dinner table for hours on end, followed by the gathering finally moving to the living room for some heated game time (garments still unstraightened).
Bitingly sweet, the clothes carry some tart through playful deconstruction and the messiness of clothing put on a whim. Frilly baby doll dresses are met with stitched-up bras on top. Playing dress up with your mom’s heels that are too big is revisited with the flat-boot with heel on calf shoe situation (sight speaks louder than words here). The garments literally carry their own muscle memory with skirt panels resisting the force of gravity by staying put in their own scrunch. And if that wouldn’t be a great allegory for what makes us special: we all carry our family lore, bending us into our own singular shapes.
Photography by Kasper Jernhag
Words by Lora Lolev
