FALL 2024 MENSWEAR
Nihl serves as a vitrine for Neil Grotzingers preoccupations and obsessions.
This time around, it was tactility which occupied the designers thoughts.
More specifically, how one can evoke the sense of touch without offering an abundance of texture.
Grotzinger is an avid beader, and each season has included a run of intricate hand-made pieces.
This fall lineup was the first that didnt feature one.
How do I still make a sensorially satisfying collection without it?
Grotzinger asked themself, eventually falling into a rabbit hole of hyper-sensorial and tactile obsession.
Much of the collection was constructed in silk charmeuse printed with photos Grotzinger has taken during travels or commutes.
Why do I feel like I need a picture of this?
was a question Grotzinger wanted to answer.
The better one: Why do they feel the need to put a brick wall on their body?
The spring collections featured an abundance of trash references on the runways.
There were trash bag-like fabrics draped into dresses or skirts and duck tape and cardboard details.
Have you noticed, everyone wants to be trash!
Why is it that the femme is considered proper and the masculine coarse?
Most importantly: Why is it that its jarring to see dainty clothes placed against masc bodies?
Because it denotes queerness.
Is queer the filth to the sleekness of heteronormalcy?
Another wormhole of Grotzingers to take us through, perhaps next season.
