Florin Dobre – Jan 13th 2015
Fall/Winter 2015 Collection
London Men’s Week (Day 3)
It is evident I am not a fashion buff and have no ‘real’
knowledge of the fashion industry – if I like something, I like it. Simple. So
upon invitation I was dubious whether to accept an offer to go ‘behind the
scenes’ of Florin Dobre’s fall/winter 2015 men’s collection.
The collection is based around William Shakespeare’s timeless
novel, Romeo and Juliet, with the invitation following a recent trip to
Stratford-Upon-Avon, Shakespeare’s home, this sparked my interest. Dobre is a
Romanian designer who intended on taking the tragic tale and moving towards a
more dramatic story, similar to Romanian tales that are heavily dramatized but
remain optimistic. Keen to see how Florin Dobre will execute his visions, the
invitation was accepted.
Upon arrival at the Romanian Cultural Institute, 2 hours
before the show was due to start, event preparation was in full swing, despite
the relaxed atmosphere. The venue was beautiful, extravagant mirrors with gold,
vintage borders hung on the wall that complimented the oversized chandeliers and
made everyone there feel grand. Florin Dobre personally handed out cans of
Carling to his team and the models whilst encouraging a positive atmosphere and
succeeding in doing so. From the start was obvious from the start that Florin
was a genuine person and not simply a character created by his PR team, the
designers personality was reflected in the models and staff who he had chosen
to work with, a model - suited and made up, actually offered to get me a glass
of water. After praising the teams working with Florin, I then learnt they were
all in fact volunteers apart from a handful of people there that travelled with
the designer from Romania.
Models paced between make up and wardrobe in their Tim
Burton influenced make up, which undeniably struck me as strange considering
the Romeo and Juliet theme. With heavy
wrinkles and dark circles around their eyes, models were aged at least 30 years
by the great skill of the makeup team. However on arrival of Florin, make up
were told that some models were meant to look happy, despite being previously instructed
otherwise, although this was a small error in communication it didn’t create an
issue and Florin remained relaxed and positive. At face value, the theme seemed
very contradictory as if the designer hadn’t done his background research, or
was he trying to be extravagant as most designers do, and trying to make a
statement? If so, it didn’t seem to do anything but make people question his
sanity.
Due to previous research, I was able to understand the aging
faces of the models. In Romanian stories, there are typically grandparents of
some sort within the tale who represent timelessness and hope, as well as a
happy ending which contradicts the tragic ending for Romeo and Juliet who were
unable to grow old together. Florin Dobre wanted to portray the optimism of his
own life and Romanian culture in his work, however this wasn’t effective as it’s
heavily reliant on the audience reading up before the show. Despite this, I
feel a Romanian crowd would have understood his attempt so his attempts may be
successful in his home. As well as this, the faces were made up very heavily,
like proper theatrical make up which reflects the novel, dramatic theme the
collection was inspired by. I greatly enjoyed the effort he put into spreading
optimism in London and felt it was a very original, creative idea.
As the models got dressed and prepared for the performance, I
soon started to get nervous for the designer although his spirits remained high.
Dobre had not fitted the clothes to the boys; he had not even matched up their
shoe size. It was an hour until the show was due to start. The designed was almost
too laid back; he took an approach where ‘if the shoe doesn’t fit, you don’t
wear it’. Props to him of course, it was risky since there was so little time
before the grand finale but he pulled it off, all the models had an outfit to
prance about in, (I’m not being rude- it’s basically what they did).
Once everyone was in their clothes, they stood in line
waiting instruction. Instruction never came. Dobre handed them another can of
Carling. There was no dress rehearsal.
The show was due to start at 7pm, although on arrival guests
were not allowed in the main room until half past 7. They were ushered into a
small room on the ground floor of the venue, filled with cheap white wine that
tasted like a half drank bottle of Lambrini, left out in the sun for a week and
then mixed with apple juice – which was actually placed in giant glass jugs on
the table. Classy. Next to this sat a table of salami which I would assume was donated
by their meat sponsor. Jägermeister also sponsored the events, where were the shots!?
Finally the guests piled into the room and to my surprised there
were not enough seats. It was packed. It was hard to estimate the number of
attendees as the last show Florin Dobre presented in London took place on a
double decker bus and toured the capital for the day, thus there was no real
way to tell who were there to actually see his collection. Despite the under
preparation, the designer seemed to have a substantial following which led me
to believe his collection would be impressive, and to readjust my opinion as I
had in fact only saw 2 hours of what would have been months of work.
At 10 to 8, the show had still not started. Issues with the
sound system they said, bullshit I thought. That playlist had been on repeat
all day apparently, and certainly for the few hours I was there. One member of
the audience turned to me and the makeup team to suggest starting a choir as we
have learnt the playlist from listening all day. Other guests looked bored and
impatient whilst most just chatted among themselves. When the show finally got
started, there was so much going on as it Florin’s attempt to make it a
theatrical performance as well as his collection debut didn’t work as well as
intended. The infamous Romeo and Juliet prologue was read out by some prat with
a book (when I say read, I mean he flipped pages back and forth, moved his
mouth up and down without attempt to mimic words or even learn ANYTHING, even
lyrics of songs which I knew from being there two hours). This ‘narrator’ was
present throughout the show and took all attention away from the clothes and
what was happening behind him (which was also bad – but slightly better- acting
on behalf of the models).
Each of the models walked the runway in a difference way,
different pace and difference style. Was that intended? I don’t think so. Since
they were all unpaid volunteers I can assume they are relatively new at modelling
and 5 minutes with one of Florin Dobre’s team for a master class on how to
walk, couldn’t have gone a miss. Although moral was high, the whole thing was
so badly executed which I hate having to say as much as I hated watching it.
The designer had such great ideas and potential but no one quite got in right,
or so it seemed. Due to that idiot jumping about with a book, pretend fighting
in the background and a random mash up of music, the real point of the event
was lost and the collection was not presented well or even paid attention to.
The outfits themselves were actually put together nicely and suited the boys
that wore them – but that was pure luck. Florin was big on the big blazers and
socks, and to my surprise I actually had a favourite piece; an oversized white
blazer, white shoes paired with light grey shin length socks and a pink shirt. The
collection was definitely unique as one model sported a flowery number, another
in a peach suit made of that tooth pattern, you know, the one on all of the
scarves (fashion genius over here). There was one of course, that looked like a
giant poo – a gangster poo. Then out came Romeo and Juliet.
Florin Dobre is typically a male designer; he hasn’t done
much, if anything, for women. This was evident in Juliet’s dress, looking like
a long white night gown with fake flowers attached by a staple gun, and a black
belt from Primark. Romeo’s outfit however was impressive, the design and
stitching looked amazing and his shoes had a flowery pattern embroidered which matched
Juliet’s dress and his shirt. This was their wedding outfits, because in Florin’s
version of the novel, they got married and lived happily ever after, which is
what was said after they walked the catwalk together. The end.
What a bunch of shit. And a shame too. Nah, it was alright really. The ideas were great, some of the collection was really strong but others let it down. Florin Dobre is a wonderful guy but ‘too’ laid back. The whole thing was under prepared and under rehearsed which is what really ruined it. It was a great experience, however if I didn’t go backstage, I would have an entirely different opinion of it as the show itself was a serious anti-climax. Of course I stood and cheered like a fool at the end, whilst Florin lead his models back down the run way to do his tradmark (very similar to the well known high school musical jump) jump.
Florin Dobre's officaily website: http://florindobre.ro/
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| Romeo and Juliet - Florin Dobre's Fall/Winter '15 Collection |
