There was a new tribalism afoot (and aface) in a cold garage on Rue de Turenne where the German-born, Antwerp-educated designer, Bernhard Willhelm presented his Spring collection. Over the past years, Willhelm has been building a name on colorful geometric prints, outlandish men’s tights influenced by wrestling wear and a sense of humor in the volumes and pairings for each season. As such, the line is not for the attention-shy and the crowd was infused with an electric energy from the buzzing creativity of the young fashion avant-garde that came early and packed every inch of the show space.

Notably, Willhelm is a presenter, and his shows are exactly that, a production that faithfully executes his vision. For presentation’s sake, he tends to latch onto a theme, and sometimes push it to excess, but the latter was not the case for his Spring collection with a variety of pieces ripe for plucking in his most mature collection to date. The tribal themes took on traditional references in black and white swirling patterns layered with his trademark printed tights, clay masks as accessories and face makeup that carried the apocalyptic theme running from the Fall collections. The designs were more innovative, however, when he added an urban update, interspersing plaids and dip-dyes with the tribal swirls in an artful collage, or when he injected a bit of folklore into his prints including a boogieman chasing silhouettes on a black dress that nodded to the world of outsider art. Considering Paris was where outsider art gained broader influence via artist Jean Dubuffet, it seemed only fitting that Willhelm’s strong Spring collection poises him for a spotlight role in the greater fashion realm. By Bee-Shyuan Chang

Bernhard Willhelm