On Friday night 15 January 2016, Jef Montes presented his latest collection RESOLVER during Mercedes Benz FashionWeek Amsterdam. In a catwalk show, he made a personal statement about the current state of the fashion industry, in which a devastating speed and empty hypes are topical issues.

RESOLVER

For his presentation in February 2015, Montes developed an innovative, in water-soluble fabric constructed from polyvinyl alcohol in collaboration with the TextielMuseum Tilburg. Over the last year, he developed this fabric into a new combination of black and white yarns, which starred in his new collection RESOLVER. The unique material is the base for his rigorous silhouettes, constructed from circular and rectangular parts.

During the show of RESOLVER, Montes presented his garments on models that encountered large amounts of water on the catwalk. The initially silver garments melted slowly from the models’ bodies, revealing the black weft yarns as web like textures. The clothes were destroyed and often completely disappeared. The transience of fashion – captured in a show. The poetic statement combined innovation, performance and fashion into a well balanced whole.

Jef Montes: “In times where fashion seems to revolve around quotes such as ‘Fashion is Dead’ (Li Edelkoort) and ‘Why fashion is crashing’ (Suzy Menkes), I think a lot about my future as a designer. Resolver is Spanish for to solve, and stands for a new fresh start. My label gives me the freedom to create my own aesthetic reality and rules – this season I wanted to start with a clean slate by literally resolving garments. ´´Fashion dying on stage and models crashing like fashion´´ What is left? A blank page, the bare-naked truth, purity, love – RESOLVER is an abstract and highly personal response to the current speed of the fashion industry”.