A Tale of Two Debutants: Hed Mayner and Namacheko

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Jun 23, 2017

A key element one seeks in any young designer is a distinctive visual style, which is why one has to admire Hed Mayner, whose Paris debut was bold eruption of deconstruction and devilish cutting.

 
This Israel-born talent used crisp wools and mannish striped cottons alongside battered canvas from vintage tents and furniture leather, the latter made into a ballooning bomber jacket. Mayner cuts with bravado and assembles with gusto. Waistcoats splay away from the hips; coats come with lapels that sweep and curl; jackets are so wide you could call them tripe breasted. The whole thing could be a mess, but Mayner’s brainy sense of proportions makes the results all rather cool.
 
The standing audience all craned forward to take photos of his clothes. So keen they rapidly narrowed the runway; almost like the Tour de France when the fans practically close off the route. Except this show was staged underneath the columns of the former Paris Bourse, part of the ever-popular fashion salon and ever evolving, Paris fashion institution, Tranoi salon.

“Transporting the recognizable items of a man’s wardrobe into something else,” explained Mayner, who looks to have a very promising future.
 
Next stop was Namacheko, a Kurdish sister and brother team who live in Sweden, who debuted inside the medieval Lutheran church deep in the Marais. An august structure right across the street from a bar know as the United Colors of Cox. Namacheko referenced such great contemporary artists as Gerhard Richter and Olafur Eliasson. However, these muses did not exactly sing loudly in what turned out to be a very elementary collection.

 
Rough-edged black or white shorts topped by endless mesh tops and large-collar white blousons all underwhelmed. They did show several neat waxy stain glass like shirts and coats, but these did really save this modest fashion presentation. A star is not born every hour in fashion.