SPRING/SUMMER 2016
ZDDZ SS 2016 Help Yourself collection is a meditation on the idea of depression and how we cope with it. It’s a return to anxiety one goes through while coming of age – which often becomes a way of shaping our identities. It’s inspired by kids who spend their nights in techno clubs taking pills – but not the ones you’re thinking about. They’re into an imaginary antidepressant Zonax designer Dasha Selyanova invented with for this collection.
The slogans printed on jackets and longsleeves – Sleep Better Live Better, Love Your Nervous System – are borrowed from advertising campaigns of antidepressants in the US in the 70s – when people still believed pharmaceutical products could guarantee a better future. The message however is completely the opposite: don’t rely on pills to fix yourself.
The collection features the label’s signature oversized parkas, voluminous bomber jackets and elongated shirts. The hard square shapes are juxtaposed with transparent fishnet garments and elastic crop tops to evoke the youthful sensuality: shy yet daring. Tight cropped trousers reference the uniform of 90s clubbers. Thick denim jackets with ripped shoulders in washed out pink and soft choker dress are a perfect feminine look for the genderless era.
Help Yourself is a very personal statement – and yet speaks to all of us.
