I’ve gone on record before, and I will say it again: Matthew Williams is The One. Not Virgil, not Kim Jones* — he is the one whose midichlorian count is simply off the charts, the one who will breakdown traditional nomenclature by “defeating streetwear” and bring balance to the force.
For years, since my time at WGSN as a trend forecaster, I’ve internally debated “when will streetwear…die?” Or, if that’s too dramatic, “when will it reach its next form?” Much has been made of this topic. Indeed, it’s a favorite at seemingly every fashion publication; from Business of Fashion to Mr. Porter (and all that is in between or around), we’ve seen countless articles note its rise and declare its demise. However, it was Highsnobiety that accurately charted its movements. Perhaps I’m biased — I authored a whitepaper on the subject for them in 2018 and Jian DeLeon, their former editorial director who has since moved to Nordstrom, is a close personal friend. So it should be no surprise that his swan song for his former employer, an article titled “Welcome to the Season Finale of Streetwear,” would lay as foundation for the house that I am building here.
On the ground floor of that house is Highsnobiety’s coinage of the term “silent streetwear.” A term that describes “traditional” streetwear designers’ attempt at leveling up by producing nondescript, minimalist and even elegant garments, some examples of silent streetwear include recent collections by Fear of God, Rhude, A-Cold-Wall and OAMC (though one can argue the Meiers’ work at Jil Sander as the harbinger of this movement).
As rockstar designers like Kim Jones and Virgil Abloh continue to play around with couture ideas at their Parisian ateliers and gobble up power left in the wake of old guard departures, Matthew Williams alone occupies the top floor. For that reason, it’s no surprise that Givenchy entrusted the non-traditional menswear designer with the keys to the entire kingdom: a creative directorship that also includes oversight of women’s (despite little to no formal education or experience with women’s garments). With his inaugural collection, Williams was off to the races, impressing his ideas upon the storied house while combating the notion that he lives in the shadows of his better-known contemporaries.
While Abloh and Jones live in the world of co-creation, building upon already-existing ideas in a way that drags the ever-evolving zeitgeist one step forward with each fashion week presentation, it appears that Williams will build a unique, standalone vision — an atelier with its own identity, one that is not tied to the dizzying speed of trend and wanton Millennial desire and one that pays homage to its roots. Where, at times, Vuitton and Dior collections are indiscernible from other designer collections but for their brazenly emblazoned graphic design and prized logos, Williams opts for softer branding. It’s no secret that the man loves him some deluxe hardware — of course, Jones astutely enlisted him to collaborate on Dior buckles and fasteners for two years running — and it’s clear that this will be central to his Givenchy collections. Aside from interlocking “G” chains, the hardware relies more on look and feel that overt branding. And then there’s the oversized crocodile skins, burnished leathers, novelty (yet somehow understated) heels, futuristic tailoring, minimal workwear and glass-table-girls glam-meets-bondage pieces, all coming together to form an 80’s-inspired futuristic feel.
Haters will point to the Heidi and Helmut influences; I prefer to call them “advancements.”
Equal parts Lil Uzi and Marilyn Manson, Paul Verhoeven and Paul Miller, Tina Turner and Christine Centenera, Williams’ debut is as unlikely as it is cohesive, as obvious as it is left field, as elegant as it is red-blooded and, perhaps most important for this newsletter, as “silent” as it is “streetwear”. Most impressively, it builds upon both: at times classy (ironically, the streetwear part), and other times gauche (also ironically, the silent part). To think: all this in a span of three months, during a pandemic, working (laregely) remotely! While the industry zigs, Williams zags, and I for one am interested to see how his tenure plays out.
* To be clear: While I think Kim Jones is a generational talent and Abloh a world-class marketer and ideas-man, over time, I believe there’s a chance that Williams will be remembered as the one with the juice.