Nicomede Talavera SS10: Film, Futurism, Fashion.

You might imagine an undergrad in Film Studies merely comprises a few leisurely screenings per week and then some piss-easy tutorials in which one, in a highly pretentious manner, voices an opinion on the nuances of Godard or Herzog and generally declares the joys of cinephilia. And, to an extent, it is that amazing but when the course is entirely comprised of theory and criticism, there’s also a lot of reading.

^ Searching and Slap by the Bragaglia Brothers.

I’ve read Bazin, Wollen and Mulvey but one film artist/writer I’ve not happened upon is Anton Giulio Bragaglia. A futurist through and through, Bragaglia published treatises and extolled the wonders of a futurist, avant-garde approach to the arts. He also (in collaboration with his brother Arturo) created Searching and Slap – the primary source of inspiration cited by CSM undergrad Nicomede Talavera. Talavera, who’s currently on his placement year, has just unveiled his first complete collection (a capsule for SS10 consisting of 14 looks).

^ Nicomede Talavera SS10

^ Another source of inspiration – a piece from Eva Hesse’s Accession ii.

^ Mel Bochner’s Superficial. Talavera cites Bochner’s work as his starting point for the conception of the shape of his looks.

^ Larry Bell’s 20″ glass cube gave Talavera ideas regarding colour and tone.

Being somewhat of a cinephile, Talavera had a fan in me even before I viewed his clothing. But, while I was a fan before, I’m verging on obsessive now that I’ve seen the neoprene jackets and bottoms, the smart but not staid nylon shirts and the glimmering tyvek tees which remind me so much of the stars of the 20s silent cinema. While the collection is inspired by the monochrome, Talavera doesn’t stop at the inclusion of black, white and grey exclusively. Rather he incorporates colour gradation which can be seen in the deep pink short-sleeve shirt (a garment which almost mimics the emphasis on process, on the advancement from a to b embodied by one work i.e. the aforementioned Searching and slap).

^ More from Talavera’s debut collection.

But Talavera also returns to the traditional for inspiration, re-working classics to enhance and embellish the conventional e.g. a metallic chainmail short-sleeve sweater in midnight blue. Having been so caught up in all the LFW menswear mayhem, it would’ve been easy to bypass those starting out in the industry for the very first time. Talavera, however, is an artist hard to ignore.

Images from Men’s Rag, Christie’s, Guggenheim, Artnet and Shafe