Laura Beham and Callum Pidgeon, founders and creative directors of the Swiss label PROTOTYPES, were very clear about what they wanted to achieve when they moved to the French capital: revolutionise the city and become the stars of Paris Fashion Week. Perhaps the latter was not 100% possible, as it is well known that this event is always full of memorable moments, but what they can say is that the night they presented their new collection was the most talked about and that social media was flooded with Instagram stories about the show.
On those Instagram stories, in addition to the presence of rapper Kanye West (now known as YE) and Bianca Censori, what could be seen were the looks that made up the proposal, related to the designer duo’s ongoing season-by-season exploration of football culture, its respective codes, and protagonists. For the current season, Beham and Pidgeon doubled and highlighted the tribalism ingrained in the team sport’s fan communities.
This approach is manifested in the collection in various ways, with faces masked to indicate their desire for anonymity, football jerseys representing a commitment to shared values, and the slogan “art et labore”, among others. This slogan makes clear the devotion that the team that makes up PROTOTYPES puts into everything they do and through it, they bring back the athleisure style, forgotten by many for several seasons.
According to what was shown at PFW, it seems that the current masters of this style are Laura and Callum, as they have achieved what few others can’t, offering a new chapter of it, in which the avant-garde and the tight silhouettes predominate; see for example the spray-painted graphics instead of standardised silk-screens or the silhouettes of the garments that mould to the body. Moreover, the designers decided to go further and break with the established way of wearing clothes and decided to take a risk, leaving it up to each model to wear it the way they want and the way they find most interesting.
Between all the black and grey looks with small touches of red and white, there were some looks made with dead stocks from the brand Lonslade, whose logo appears on jackets and sweatpants, polo shirts with distorted collars, and sweatshirts; or a collaboration with Umbro, whose logo also appears on several top pieces. Most of the looks were finished with sock-style sneakers.
Keep an eye out for Laura Beham and Callum Pidgeon because they promise to make a big splash with PROTOTYPES.
Check out the collection below:
