Fall/Winter 2014: The Medium is the Message

Feral Childe’s FW14 collection, The Medium is the Message, neatly dovetails with the prior season’s themes of disappearance and reappearance (disappearing object phenomenon). The Medium is the Message asks, what about the things we thought we saw, but perhaps were never really there to begin with?

As Feral Childe, artists Alice Wu and Moriah Carlson have chosen clothing as their primary medium. Feral Childe FW14 takes visual cues from literary classics such as “The Yellow Wallpaper” and 19th century spirit photography, set to the sonic backdrop of Satie’s Furniture Music. The collection’s spectrum of chalkboard green, ghostly vapor, and blue-gray shadow conjure up haunted ballrooms, wallpapered parlors occupied by overgrown houseplants, and hushed conversations in stairwells.

Feral Childe seeks to capture evidence of those things felt but not seen, and encourages viewers/wearers to look for the hidden pictures. The print “Thieves,” inspired by a 15th century German woodblock print, depicts mischievous characters stealing ripe fruit in the dead of night. Translucent vellum cutouts form the ectoplasmic print “Furniture Music.” In another print, electric raspberries and giant brooding pomegranates bring bursts of color to the collection’s otherwise subdued palette.

Feral Childe’s FW14 silhouettes are romantic (Maisie Dress, Geode Mirror Dress), yet thoroughly modern and minimal (Phantom Shell, Magic Lantern Skirt, Mumler Dress). All are rendered in natural fibers; highlights include supple organic cotton jersey blended with yak down, futuristic reversible bonded Cupro, hand-loomed silk cotton coating, and additional silk, hemp, Tencel and linen blends. While invoking the infinite possibilities of everyday theater, Feral Childe’s FW14 collection is eminently wearable. As we like to say, the clues are in the clothes. Made in NYC.

Penniman Blazer in Cotton Tweed Squares, Strange Cases Shirt and Doyle Pant