Dennis Diem’s asphalt jungle
Written by Linett Kamps
Dennis Diem was another designer to present his fall / winter 2012 collection on the last night of Amsterdam fashion week (AIFW). Diem surprised everyone with his show and was therefore the perfect clincher.
The collection he showed is called The Asphalt Jungle which refers to the film from 1950 with Marilyn Monroe. Diem has always been interested in film-noir and this turned out to be the inspiration for his latest collection.
Fitting with the theme, he used almost only black and white colors in his collection. Dennis Diem is known for handcraft and corsets, so it wasn’t that surprising that we also this time saw corsets and silhouettes with small waists and wide shoulders – such as the perfect hourglass measurements from Marilyn Monroe. We also saw lots of geometric shapes.
On the other hand the collection was very feminine. A part of the collection was inspired by the orchid flower. So we also saw exotic colors, long dresses and flower skirts.
Diem wanted to emphasize the charisma of women, and he has done this in an unusual but amazing way. And then we haven’t even talked about the shoes yet! These were super high and handcrafted in feel. The shoes that had heals, because there were also some without, were as a beak of a toucan. This gave a sort of darkly exotic feeling to the collection.
Overall it was not the most wearable collection of the week, but arguably the most beautiful and creative one!
