Fans, followers and fashion students were among the first to see the Public School Fall/Winter 2016 collection yesterday morning, as brand designers and co-founders Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chow staged a makeshift show on the sidewalk around Milk Studios. Models walked out of the backstage area and into the streets, strutting around the perimeter of the building, before returning inside to walk for industry guests.
This season, Osborne and Chow were inspired by David Bowie’s The Man Who Fell to Earth, a film where Bowie plays an alien that comes to Earth in search of water for his dying home planet. Symbolic references were made to the movie throughout the collection: cameo prints and utilitarian designs alluded to the need for survival, while triangles (alchemical symbols for water) were found in pockets and stitching designs.
Bombers, anoraks and Velcro closures made the collection a little rough around the edges, but Public School managed to maintain their streetwear and athletic influences through the use of distressed denim, zip-up blazars, quilted outerwear and accessories. Silhouettes were nipped at the waist with a slim cut or double-wrap belt. It felt more thoughtful and detailed than their previous collections and showed the progression of their design.
