Consumption Dump #005
Shanghai Fashion Week! Cult classics! Oh, the range!
Welcome or welcome back to Consumption Dump. This week was a fashion feast with some movies sprinkled in here and there.
The Doom Generation dir. by Gregg Araki
To put it simply: this movie is so fucking horny. The Doom Generation is one of the few heterosexual movies from Araki’s filmography, but even saying that is far-fetched. If you’ve seen it, we can all unanimously agree that Jordan and Xavier wanted to fuck sans Amy. The sexual tension between Jordan and Xavier couldn’t even be cut with a knife, it would need a hardcore chainsaw, Leatherface style. Jordan’s consistent denial of his own sexual exploration with Xavier besides when Amy is present is a layered and smartly done exploration into the topic of sexual repression amongst men and the denial to sexual freedom. Beside the nightmarish storyline, that denies this sexually deviant trio any peace, the characters, themselves are perfectly balanced. Jordan, who is oh so naive, is a troubled teen with his heart in the right place. Throughout the movie, I found myself looking at him thinking Oh, honey. You really cannot help it. On the other end is Xavier and Amy, who are run of the mill troubled teens. They’re both savvy, quick, and ill-willed. Out of the two, Amy is on the moderate end of the spectrum. Her evilness is mostly her lack of loyalty to my sweet Jordan, but anyway that’s quickly resolved. Unlike Xavier, Amy doesn’t have a tendency toward violence. Xavier on the other hand is the most extreme form of utter delinquency. He steals, he’s violent, and he makes explicit sexual advances that are sometimes quite disgusting. But, it is the distinctiveness of these characters and their interactions with one another that exemplifies why their fucked-up trio-ship works so perfectly. Ultimately, the three form a sexual union that satiates all of their needs. Even though, the trio works, it is unconventional and therefore they will be no happy endings (yes, I do mean that as a double entendre).
The concept of death is uneasy and oft avoided in conversation. In tandem with death is mourning. A natural part of the human experience, mourning unites us all in a spiritual way. After witnessing a Christian funeral Jingwei Yin of Oude Waag found his inspiration for his latest collection. Yin’s SS25 show was a funeral procession in the most sensual way possible. The entire collection was made up of various hues of grey, beige, brown, and black. It captured the seriousness of the topic, but the precision with which Yin designs, sensuality coincides nicely with this serious subject matter. Yin’s strength lies in his ability to manipulate fabrics. He twists, cuts, and drapes fabrics in a a way that is arousing without gaudiness. Glamour without over-the-top extravagance. I mean, you don’t even have to trust me, look for yourself, his ability to tackle such complex subject matter and make it palatable is a skill in itself.
The variety of fabrics is just… CHEF’S KISS. Yayi Chen Zhou debuted her first collection in Shanghai this Fashion week. Previously having worked under Thom Browne and The Row, Chen Zhou is dealing with the issue of how to cultivate her brand’s Chinese identity to amass appeal on a global scale. The singularity and finesse of this collection, in my opinion, gives it all the more reason to be recognized on a larger fashion scale. Chen Zhou seamlessly weaves together silks, velvets, linen yarn, and even papier mâché in a cohesive manner. When speaking with Vogue, Chen Zhou did say, “It’s connective thread was considering the experience of the maker and the wearer simultaneously.” By considering this, she lent humanness to the over-glamorized world of the Fashion runway. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a name heard on the global scale in the years to come.
SHUSHU/TONG is known for its feminity and girlishness - the perfect gateway into the Coquette trend if that’s your speed. Their latest SS25 collection was inspired by the iconic movie, The Piano Teacher, starring the gorgeous Isabelle Huppert. If you haven’t seen that - put it on your watchlist. The push and pull between desire and rejection in that movie is the feeling Lushun Lei and Yutong Jiang wanted to dramatize in this collection. The result was a disgruntled, undone, but sophisticated young woman. It is hard to talk about this collection without addressing the elephant in the room - yes, it definitely does channel and take inspiration from Prada and Miu Miu’s singular design language. But a lot of brands did this globally and I’m not tired of it yet. In the SHUSHU/TONG world, this was their most lively collection to date. Instead of deep hues, there were pastel pinks, diluted mint-greens, bright blues, and deep reds. The brand did nod to their inherent girlishness through a subtle inclusion of bows on some looks. Despite this though, the collection is meant for the complex modern-day woman.
Delta Space Mission dir. by Cãlin Cazan, Mircea Toia, and Victor Antonescu
In total honesty, I’m not huge into animated movies. Call it a character flaw or whatever, but it’s the truth. But I was bored and felt adventurous. I am so delighted that I let my curious spirit lead me because the visuals in this movie are absolutely insanity in the best way possible. Delta Space Mission is Romania’s first animated featured. This movie follows alien journalist Alma, who boards Delta, an advanced spaceship that establishes dialogue between intergalactic civilizations. Soon, Alma and the human friends she has made along the way learn that the AI on that controls the spaceship can act on its own. This gets the gang into perilous situations. The story-line of this movie is incongruous, and not a reason to watch it. The standalone attraction of this movie is the visuals. All of the animations are hand-drawn and the backgrounds are hand-painted acrylic masterpieces. The way it is artfully done surprises me that this is a first feature.