The Mean Reds
Friday the 13th, kink in the movie headlines (or lightweight facile kink according to the critics who have panned Sam Taylor Johnson’s 50 Shades of Grey) and all shades of red coming at ya’ thanks to a combo of Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year next week – that’s certainly a cumulatively appropriate backdrop to be talking up Ammerman Schlösberg aka duo Liz Ammerman and Eric Schlösberg, who ever since their debut at a VFiles mixed show two years ago have been LOL-ing (as in LOLita) up the New York young designer scene. In a landscape where commercial viability generally rules above all, Ammerman Schlösberg are unapologetic about their wayward idiosyncracy, rooted in Japanese lolita subculture, kitsch pop referencing remix and their staunch dedication to the idea of dressing-up and becoming different characters. That doesn’t mean what Ammerman and Schlösberg do is costume. In a culture conversation role reversal, in a similar way to how Japanese fashion-heads have approached English punk or American cowboys, Ammerman and Schlösberg have looked at Lolita style tribes and cosplay lifestyle and those iconic images you’ve seen in Fruits and mixed their perceptions of these subcultures with personal references.
Their latest A/W 15-6 collection entitled “Furry Hospitals” was partly inspired by their fascination with the dark depths of a hospital and Ammerman’s family being in the medical industry and also specifically with the “Guro” or gory Lolita, who don gothic gear with fake blood dripping on the face. Every model was presented as a broken doll – bruised and bleeding – girls interrupted in an psychiatric hospital that might feature in a series of American Horror Story. Still despite being bandaged and stitched up, these girls are no pushovers. They stomp and cavort in breast-baring fishnet tops, attitude-ridden mini skirts and black buckled boots, drenched in black and red and some aspects of Japanese furry culture. It’s a darker place than what Ammerman and Schlösberg has previously explored. The current S/S 15 collection was a twisted take on Christmas (yes, Christmas makes sense in a spring summer collection apparently…) where anything from Paris from the Simple Life, Gwen Stefani’s ska era, hospital scrubs and candy cane welding elves were injected into the Lolita frocks kawaii kink outfits.
Up until recently, neither Schlösberg or Ammerman had been to Japan, the source of their inspiration. Late last year, Ammerman finally made it to her spiritual home where she got acquainted with maid cafes, robots and the strangely simmering underbellies of smut in Tokyo and Osaka. An Ammerman Schlösberg tour of Japan is on the cards. Not surprisingly Ammerman got recognised on the streets in Tokyo as their American take on Japanese lolita has potential to make impact in the other direction. It’s the sort of bi-directional culture conversation, indicative of the shrinking world we live in.
Ammerman Schlösberg A/W 15-6 collection presented as part of Made Fashion Week:
