You cannot deconstruct unless you know how to construct. - Alexander McQueen

Combining Color: Part II - Urban Cues permalink

When a color scheme is inspired by an urban environment, it’s not so much about pulling together different colors as it is combining shades along a continuum of the same color. Urban color schemes, if not on a grayscale, tend to be washed-out. When traditional urban garb is grayscale, greater attention is paid to the silhouette - the architecture of the silhouette mimics the architecture of a cityscape. This description defines the first of two genuinely urban looks: the Urbane and the Post-Apocalyptic Urban Primitive.

YSL post cover photo.jpg
image: Yves Saint Laurent a/w 2006-7 www.style.com

Undercover post cover photo.jpg
image: Undercover a/w 2006-7 www.style.com

The more traditional look, the Urbane, is one that I imagine would materialize from Ayn Rand’s objectivist universe: sophisticated, geometric, monotone and tailored. The Urbane tends to be synonymous with the Cognoscenti, regardless of whether or not that is truly the case. It is a look that is premeditated and geared toward plush interiors, not physical demands.

Ayn Rand stamp.jpg
image: Ayn Rand stamp www.wikimedia.org

When designing these clothes, cues from the urban environment have equal chance of being inspired by a classic Gotham cityscape, such as that found in works by Tamara de Lempicka, or modern-day Tokyo.

Tamara.jpg
image: “Portrait of Madame Boucard”, Tamara de Lempicka (1931) www.goodart.org

Shibuya Nights.jpg
image: “Shibuya Nights” www.rasterman.com

Miuccia Prada comes from a background in architecture, which makes her label, Prada, quintessentially Urbane:

Prada aw 2005.jpg
image: Prada a/w 2005-6 www.style.com

Prada aw 2005 2.jpg
image: Prada a/w 2005-6 www.style.com

Prada ss 2006.jpg
image: Prada s/s 2006 www.style.com

Prada ss 2006 2.jpg
image: Prada s/s 2006 www.style.com

The following examples typify the Urbane look:

bruno Pieters aw 2006 2.jpg
image: bruno Pieters a/w 2006-7 www.vogue.co.uk

bruno Pieters aw 2006.jpg
image: bruno Pieters a/w 2006-7 www.vogue.co.uk

Jonathan Saunders aw 2006.jpg
image: Jonathan Saunders a/w 2006-7 www.style.com

Jonathan Saunders aw 2006 4.jpg
image: Jonathan Saunders a/w 2006-7 www.style.com

Jonathan Saunders aw 2006 3.jpg
image: Jonathan Saunders a/w 2006-7 www.style.com

Alice Roi aw 2006 2.jpg
image: Alice Roi a/w 2006-7 www.style.com

Alice Roi aw 2006 3.jpg
image: Alice Roi a/w 2006-7 www.style.com

YSL aw 2006 2.jpg
image: Yves Saint Laurent a/w 2006-7 www.style.com

YSL aw 2006.jpg
image: Yves Saint Laurent a/w 2006-7 www.style.com

YSL aw 2006 3.jpg
image: Yves Saint Laurent a/w 2006-7 www.style.com

The less traditional urban look is what I call the Post-Apocalyptic Urban Primitive (PAUPer). The origin here is entirely Punk, and its nature is anti-establishment or anarchist.

blugarian anarchist.jpg
image: Anarchist 2006 (I can’t remember where I got this…but I know that it was in response to a Bush visit.)

Undercover aw 2006 2.jpg
image: Undercover a/w 2006-7 www.style.com

Undercover aw 2006 3.jpg
image: Undercover a/w 2006-7 www.style.com

Undercover aw 2006 4.jpg
image: Undercover a/w 2006-7 www.style.com

The fabrics used for the PAUPer look take after a distressed urban environment, perceived from the grittier viewpoint of urban blight:

Buffalo Decay 2002 2.jpg
image: Buffalo, NY 2002

Gasworks Park Seattle.jpg
image: Gasworks Park Seattle, 2006

Buffalo Decay 2002.jpg
image: Buffalo, NY 2002

Grafitti Art Tacoma 2006.jpg
image: Graffiti Art Tacoma, WA 2006

Grafitti Art Tacoma 2006 2.jpg
image: Graffiti Art Tacoma, WA 2006

Rick Owens ss 2006.jpg
image: Rick Owens s/s 2006 www.style.com

Rick Owens ss 2006 2.jpg
image: Rick Owens s/s 2006 www.style.com

The PAUPer can also be reminiscent of costumes created for Japanese anime, particularly anime set in a futuristic Japanese city such as this:

Ghost in the Shell  Innocence.jpg
image: screenshot from, “Ghost in the Shell: Innocence” (2004) www.gallery.point-blank.cc

Junya Watanabe aw 2006 2.jpg
image: Junya Watanabe a/w 2006-7 www.style.com

Junya Watanabe aw 2006 3.jpg
image: Junya Watanabe a/w 2006-7 www.style.com

Junya Watanabe aw 2006.jpg
image: Junya Watanabe a/w 2006-7 www.style.com

What I find fascinating is that both the Urbane and the PAUPer are city dwellers. They are products of the same environment and can be found side-by-side navigating city sidewalks. It is startling, then, that reflections of the city in these two modes of dress are opposite visions: one viewpoint is from the high-rise, the other is from the pavement.

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