Australian menswear duo Amanda Cumming and Kate Reynolds, PAGEANT, launch their second collection for Autumn/Winter 12. Titled 'Wet Dream', military uniforms – particularly those of US Navy SEALs – are transposed to a powerful army of youth with all the social and physical privileges that come with. Camoflage patterns are quilted in the texture of sea foam – or as the girls point out, its urban equivalent, shaving foam, whilst 'Solidarity Flag' shirts are worn with pride and thermal skins and snap pants form a dynamic take on compensatory athletic wear.
The video is a celebration of a virile youth, and the beauty and vitality that can manifest itself in naivety, posturing, arrogance, and overt sexuality
"The video features two street cast models/artists: Nick Batty and Nic Tammens," explain the designers, who have combined experience at PAM, Christopher Kane and Christopher Shannon. "They are both intriguing, young, hot men whom act as a type of muse for us when we design." Set to an exclusive soundtrack by HTRK, which provides a taste of their new EP coming later this year on Ghostly International, Dazed Digital asked director Antuong Nguyen for his synopsis.
My aesthetic is definitely informed by subcultures, I am especially fascinated by those that last for a timespan of two to three years before they implode upon themselves
"The video is a celebration of a virile youth, and the beauty and vitality that can manifest itself in naivety, posturing, arrogance, and overt sexuality. The 'Wet Dream' collection, to the best of my understanding, re-purposes the military outfits as a uniform for socially marginalised youth and revolution.
I wanted the video to look somewhere between an induction video for a group of young insurgents and found-footage of an early-90s gabber rave. The datestamp is a nod to the latter. My aesthetic is definitely informed by subcultures, I am especially fascinated by those that last for a timespan of two to three years before they implode upon themselves. They find new code and meaning twenty years down the track, like the look of digicam footage these days."
