Greyhound in the night
New puppy Greyhound Noir shares the mysteries of the dark
It wasn't sport that drew fashion designers and Bangkok’s best-dressed denizens to the Royal Bangkok Sports Club on Tuesday night. It was “Illusion in the Dark”, a new line of classic black outfits by Greyhound Noir, a pricey offshoot of top clothing label Greyhound Original.
Models treaded a catwalk erected in a dark room amid billowing clouds of smoke. It was a scene straight out of film noir that was so popular in the 1940s and is enjoying a renaissance today. In fact, the animated French film “Fears of the Dark” inspired the collection.
The autumn-winter line tends to the mysterious and illusionary with its plays of light and shadow. Linen, organza, twill, knit, wool, calfskin and cotton take on patterns of herringbone or the gothic plates of an old church floor, giving each piece a truly artistic appeal.
The designers juggled the geometry and added modern punk edge. Skirts and shirttails flared like beams of light in the dark.
For the men there are lots of zips and padding on the elbows and knees of leather jackets and pants. To the night tones of black and grey are added burgundy, red, bronze, cream and white for a luxurious lift.
Greyhound Original had its own clothes to show, sticking to the same theme. The forms are rigid, beautifully fit but spreading out like Noir’s flares, this time emphasising light over shadow. There are complicated patterns, with perforations between layers, different kind of velvet woven together, and swaths of leather added to the mix.
Leather jackets, coats and padded pants are punkish with rivets and quilting, detailing in silver and nickel zippers. The brand’s signature graphics are prominent, here playing up lights like a film-noir beam emitting from a movie projector. Fabrics combine in various colours – glossy silk, organza, twill, knitted, herringbone cotton, wool and leather – and pleats are compressed to simulate dimension created by light and shadow.
While the emphasis remains on black and grey for that evening allure, red, copper, cream and white provide a whirl of noir |emotions.
