REVIEW: WeizDhurm Franklyn Pre-Fall 2015.

Pre-Fall collections, the companion ‘season’ (if you will) to Resort collections are always tricky to pull off. This because the collection has to ultimately serve as a segue between the warm months and the cool months and stay practical for both. So when I received news that Nigerian designer and LFDW finalist Weizdhurm Franklyn had released a Pre-Fall collection on the heels of his largely successful S/S collection debuted at the 2014 LFDW fashion week, I got very interested. I knew he had talent and a very good team behind him. So I went to hunt down pictures from the look-book and this is what I found.

First of all, let me post this disclaimer: There will be foul language, for now, more than ever, it is appropriate.

After a cursory look through the pieces, my first thoughts were “the fuck is this?”

This is one of those instances where saying something nice before dropping criticisms can’t happen, because there isn’t really a lot of nice going on. I am always one for creative avenues and interesting approaches to fashion, but there comes a point where we have to say “Please stop.”

This was supposed to be a Pre-Fall collection. Pre-Fall, for those who are not familiar with the term, refers to collections meant to be showcased earlier than now (around November, to reach retailers by May) before the usual period for Fall collections, which typically come around this time of the year (February to March, to reach retailers in September), focusing on more commercial and wearable clothes to attract buyers, while often giving hints of what to expect by Fall. Pre-Fall collections are supposed to echo the trends of the previous Summer season while foreshadowing the trends that will dominate the Fall Season.

This collection fails, by this definition.

First off, it is a given that if you want to sell sex and sensuality through the use of sheer and daring slits, your choice of fabric must be incredibly lush and drape beautifully. The fabric choices for the collection were questionable at best, given the direction the cut and silhouettes took. The clothes are meant to be risqué, but they easily cross the line into unnecessarily slutty. Most of it is either too sheer, too short, or both, and with the exception of the short coats, very little from this collection is actually wearable for any respectable occasion.

The unflattering fit of these two dresses in particular look like they were made by an Amish woman with an identity crisis and a lot of mosquito nets.

The dress is bad enough on it’s own, then there is that fur ‘whatever’ on her shoulder that looks like re-purposed highway roadkill.

Interestingly there is an outpouring of faux fur accessories; capes, hats and shawls draped ‘artfully’ around the model’s shoulders, head and neck. Fur is supposed to add an air of luxury to a look but the opposite happens. There is too little fur to suggest opulence and the fur is too ratty to pass for minimalist glamour. Using fur collars/hats/shawls when the model basically nude seems a lot like trying to hide a dead body with a handkerchief.

Necklaces are too mainstream apparently.

I don’t know if that’s a hat or a Wole Soyinka wig.

The few actually wearable clothes seem like they’re sportswear-inspired and veer completely off the direction of the rest of the clothes. That white sweater/jumper thing with the shorts just seemed to come out of nowhere, and I wondered what was up when the designer put that crotch-high slit on the pink skirt.. The only two clothes in line with the mood of the collection that also seem passable are the black jumpsuit with the sheer shoulder and sleeves, and the black maxi dress with the sheer middle area on the skirt. And maybe also the long black dress with the sheer skirt that has the opaque fabric underneath up to micro-mini-skirt length.

The pantsuit is unoriginal but the execution is top notch, so it stays.

The velvet dress with fringe detailing on the right is inspired work. Gorgeous. The skirt on the other model transcends it’s humble beginnings of being made out fabric that looks like a mosquito netting and slays.

I’d wear the hell out of that jumpsuit, I wouldn’t go anywhere in that dress, but I’d wear it too.

This jacket and the pink one almost made me a believer in this collection, almost.

If you ignore the fabric, the jacket is quite interesting.

Burn the culottes in a fire, keep the sweater.

The rest? No.

NOPE.

Just…no.

That blouse and that skirt, NOPE and NOPE.

No.

This skirt is barf worthy. Why does she have a totally useless bit protruding out of her crotch, what does it do exactly?

Weizdhurm Franklyn had an interesting idea, the criss crossed striping on sheer fabric, he could have built a beautiful collection on that alone. There were too many ideas all at the same time, none gaining any proper execution. Also, this is just a lookbook (though a look book is supposed to be your clothes marketed at their most glamorous) and the clothes might look better in person. There is something to be said of his design team, particularly whoever styled the fur pieces and the chose the location. Shooting dark clothes in a dark room was not the most inspired idea. I wait for his next collection, I hope he redeems this misstep.