The legendary artist’s nightmarish creatures are captivating designers right now, with Supreme dropping a series of Giger-inspired looks for AW23
After the US government declassified a bunch of documents that supposedly confirmed the existence of extraterrestrial beings last month, there’s been a lot of alien talk permeating the timeline just recently. But whether you’re nonplussed about the revelation – ICYMI, we’ve got bigger fish to fry! – are of the opinion it could just be yet another psyop, or are celebrating the fact the almost husk-dry dating pool has just been broadened, one thing we can probably all agree on is that if the little green guys are really close to making contant, then hopefully they’ll bear no resemblance to the terror-inducing ones HR Giger dreamed up.
It would be an understatement to say the legendary artist’s extraterrestrials did not come in peace. The apex-XXL predators stalked the murky bowels of the Nostromo in Ridley Scott’s Alien and subsequently, our nightmares, jaws dripping with flesh-burning acid, spindly black limbs tip-tapping menacingly down the space vessel’s metal gangways. Ripping their way through an entire team of astronauts – bar screen legend Ripley, obviously – the creatures have ingrained themselves in pop culture canon. There’s few among us who aren’t familiar with the infamous ‘chestburster’ scene, whether they’ve sat down and watched the full film or not.
Doesn’t sound like the fabbest fashion fodder, right? Wrong. The Alien franchise, and more broadly, HR Giger’s esoteric, night-terror-inspired-and-inducing work has been influencing fashion for ages now. From Craig Green’s hole-y AW15 jumpers, which possibly led to him being tapped to create the costumes for Alien offshoot Covenant, and Alexander McQueen’s 3D-printed Plato’s Atlantis platforms, to endless otherworldly couture looks by Iris Van Herpen, his artworks have surely been pinned to countless inspo boards across the years.
More recently, it was revealed that Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons were Giger stans, after the fashion dream team peppered the SS24 Prada men’s collection with Xenomorphs and other alien life, like the tripods from War of the Worlds. From far away, the illustrations looked like exotic floral patterns, but up-close, the extraterrestrial Easter eggs revealed themselves – much to the delight of nerdy Prada-wearing sci-fi nerds. And now, just a couple of months later, comes another HR Giger nod, this time courtesy of Supreme. The brand just teased a look at its own AW23 offering, which features Giger’s paintings plastered across a big green puffer jacket, a pair of baggy skate jeans, and a classic red work jacket.
It’s not the first time Supreme has tapped into Giger’s back-catalogue. The NY skate label also channelled illustrations by the artist into its 2014 collection, turning out more streetwear bearing his images. But with such a vast array of extremely sick works, why wouldn’t you return for more? As fresh as they were in his 1970s and 80s hey-day, Giger’s captivating world is prime for the ploughing. Just maybe let’s not let River Island loose in the archives in future – not sure the world necessarily needs a diamante-studded Xenomorph going-out top, but maybe that’s just me.
Click through the gallery above to revisit the SS24 Prada collection.