The new post-alpine aesthetic of fashion brands

Yesterday Jacquemus' SS22 show, entitled La Montaigne, was accompanied by a note that said: «I wanted to focus on the clothes, the silhouettes, the colors, The fabrics, the details and the energy of the models. I wanted the set to be minimal and sharp, recreating an abstract artistic mountain that portrays the inspiration of the collection». The natural environment of the mountain was completely abstract in its essential shapes and colors and the result was a post-gorpcore clothing, in which the individual details of mountain clothing (balaclava, puffer jacket, fleece and vest, belts and utility details) were translated into a less technical and more aestheticized form. 

Jacquemus "La Montaigne" collection

Jacquemus "La Montaigne" collection

Jacquemus "La Montaigne" collection

Jacquemus "La Montaigne" collection

Jacquemus "La Montaigne" collection

Jacquemus "La Montaigne" collection

Jacquemus "La Montaigne" collection

Jacquemus "La Montaigne" collection

Jacquemus "La Montaigne" collection

Jacquemus "La Montaigne" collection

Jacquemus "La Montaigne" collection

Jacquemus "La Montaigne" collection

The gorpcore aesthetic has decisively dominated all the trends of 2020 and its wave has not yet stopped although, from what emerges from the most recent collections that have paraded this month, its aesthetic boundaries are already beginning to change: from gorpcore to campcore, from climbing to camping, from utility to lifestyle. 

White Mountaineering SS22

White Mountaineering SS22

White Mountaineering SS22

Phipps SS22

Phipps SS22

Phipps SS22

Arnar Már Jónsson SS22

Arnar Már Jónsson SS22

Arnar Már Jónsson SS22

The scenery is always the mountain, but the steep peaks have vanished in favor of environments always natural or inspired by nature but more daily. This is the case for Thom Browne's SS22 collection, which reflects on the loneliness experienced in lockdown by comparing the emptiness of a lonely room to that of mountain landscapes; this is the case for Jacquemus who transforms the mountain from an actual scenario to a moodboard; this is the case for White Mountaneering, Phipps and icelandic Arnar Már Jónsson who loosen the aggressive appearance of gorpcore in favor of technical but softer, more lifestyle-oriented products.  

What changed?

Jacquemus "La Montaigne" collection

Jacquemus "La Montaigne" collection

Jacquemus "La Montaigne" collection

Jacquemus "La Montaigne" collection

First of all, the season has changed: if winter proposals could push the accelerator on the performance of garments, their thermal insulation and their resistance, spring ones must focus on lighter, and therefore more lifestyle-oriented constructions. To shift the aesthetics of gorpcore towards a decisive lightening of silhouettes also contributes the progressive relaxation of health restrictions that we witness all over the world that, while leaving intact the trend of reunification with nature, makes the need for performance-ready products less extreme. Utility details therefore translate into monumental pockets, camouflage or waterproofed fabrics, creative uses of paneling – but also attention to more "natural" techniques such as crochet. 

White Mountaineering SS22

White Mountaineering SS22

White Mountaineering SS22

Phipps SS22

Phipps SS22

Phipps SS22

Phipps SS22

Arnar Már Jónsson SS22

Arnar Már Jónsson SS22

Arnar Már Jónsson SS22

Arnar Már Jónsson SS22

Arnar Már Jónsson SS22

For Jacquemus in particular, the mountain becomes a dream horizon, to be reduced to its most essential geometries and color. The technical soul of gorpcore recedes in favor of an approach that deviates from the luxury of collections such as Gucci x The North Face, in which the technological element remained predominant, to focus on silhouettes and constructions that, so to speak, bring the mountain to the city. The same happens in punk version from Phipps and with the activewear of Thom Browne while for White Mountaineering and Arnar Már Jónsson, who adhere more to the traditional canon of the trend, the technical side of the clothes translates into a style less and less oriented to performance and pure utility and increasingly focused on translating in fashion terms the silhouette and construction of the technical garment. 

Will the trend survive?

In these latest collections, gorpcore is changing. Of course, every trend is born and evolves according to the needs of society and the historical moment that produced it and therefore the change of a society that wants to stay in contact with nature but is no longer confined to its homes and can return to live the urban dimension is reflected in a gorpcore that maintains its external appearance losing the stretch of utility-over-style , indeed by flipping that equation. Fashion languages, during 2020, incorporated the codes of techwear but ended up appropriating them and transforming them into pure, abstract and sublimated inspiration, and strangely for this reason purer – at least from an aesthetic point of view.