YESTERNOW

Now that we’ve all broken out of our domestic cozy cocoons, we can finally show off our freshly assembled summer wardrobe. From pants to sandals and sunglasses, everything for the outside world to see! The art of floundering about, wether it’s at the beach or the supermarket (and in this case, London’s infamous Brixton market) is a celebration fashion house Kiko Kostadinov has completely taken under its wings. Having mainly emphasised the movement of materials for this spring 2022 menswear collection, YESTERNOW is an official break-up from still life.

When projecting oneself into the future, a certain retrospection is necessary. Referencing his native country Bulgaria, Kostadinov has transformed traditional Bulgarian head jewellery into draped sautoirs which swing and shine and jangle throughout the show. Warped tailoring, sliced shorts, spiked patch pockets and fold-away sleeve shirts — continuously constructed and deconstructed — were drawn from the idiosyncratic palettes and shapes of two of Kostadinov’s greatest infatuations: futurist artists Giacomo Balla and fellow Bulgarian born artist Nicolay Diulgheroff.

Kostadinov invites us into a hybrid experience where the past and the present are being unified through film and sound, positioning ourselves into a “dislocated reality”. Blurring our senses and challenging our personal point-of-views of the lived experience, Kostadinov imposes us the question of the sense of longing. Particularly reflective of the recent geopolitical dynamics regarding the post-Brexit aftermath and Bulgaria’s historical heritage, YESTERNOW stresses the importance of movement, a phenomenon inherently tied to freedom and expression.