Icosae was going for a sinister Shakespearean vibe for fall with a collection in almost all black and red for fall. Arm bands and diagonal seams across the back lent a princely cast to suits and trenchcoats — designers Valentin and Florentin Glémarec said they were inspired by the scandals of English royalty — while Eighties punk and skinhead references included combat boots, mesh undershirts and slicked-back or buzzed hair on models. The structured silhouette alternated between extremes, as trimly tailored and tightly fastened trenchcoats were interspersed with oversized looks.
Mottos stamped across some garments brought a dose of contemporary streetwear: a top that read “Antihero” drove home the collection’s Shakespearean vibe while the questionable semantics of “The Chaos of Trouble” bewildered. (The phrase appears to have come from a Belle & Sebastian lyric.)
Thigh-length panels poking out from one side of some jackets recalled the asymmetric tailoring of Icosae’s first two collections, of which many light-hearted elements have been swapped out in favor of a more severe tone this season — which the designers titled “Blood Is Thicker Than Water.”
The Glémarec brothers both studied fine art at the Ecole du Louvre before founding the brand in 2014.
