Today, bending gendered clothing conventions is almost taken for granted. But in 1930s Switzerland this was not entirely the case; a fact that clearly separated Annemarie Schwarzenbach, the Swiss writer, journalist and photographer, from the crowd. “She was such a style icon of her time,” says Eudon Choi of the thin, short-haired androgynous who served as the central inspiration for his combined pre-fall and fall collection. “In Switzerland she was a major pioneer of this very boyish look, and was even encouraged by her own mother.”
Taking the waiterUsing Choi’s wardrobe as a starting point, Choi developed an accessible wardrobe, anchored in tightly lined, loosely cut tailoring: striped jackets with cut side seams so they can be worn as a cape, colossal moleskine coats with exaggerated storm flaps, oxford shirts with removable double collars. While the fit and palette of a few pieces feel a bit sloppy, the more chaste looks are lifted with flapper dresses studded with sequins, and figure-hugging figures in all-over archangel floral prints.
Evoking the more feminine components of Schwarzenbach’s fluid style is a series of looks that pay tribute to the heady eclecticism of her approach to dressing. A halterneck dress in the aforementioned floral texture with a thigh-high slash, and an A-line day dress and flared separates cut from sheer lace with geometric pattern, add a red-blooded frisson to an otherwise relatively austere offering – a little more of this wouldn’t have gone wrong.