We’re on the cusp of a late-winter bumper crop of exciting fashion happenings. The Portland Art Museum‘s Italian Style exhibit, for one thing, opens this Saturday with a room dedicated to Portland designers (like Alexa Stark, Adam Arnold, and Elizabeth Dye, to name a few); the always-a-great-time Unmentionable lingerie show is coming up on Tuesday; and just over the horizon is Fade to Light, which pairs new collections from Portland designers with original short films, on Wednesday, Feb 25.
Bryce Black has become one of Fade to Light’s fixtures, and his collections reliably deliver high drama in every respect. He’s virulently anti-“basic,” and has been known to shake up the runway with dancers as models who transform a fashion show into an almost violent display of muscular dexterity. The clothing naturally follows suit, and often borders on club-kid. For all the outrageousness, it should not go without notice that Black has the construction chops to back it up, even when the end result is savagely shredded or rendered in dungeon-ready black rubber.
- Stephen Funk
On the mood and cultural influences within the new collection:
BRYCE BLACK: Coherence and intelligibility after desolation… This is a take on a futurism and a society that has degenerated to a Paleolithic way of life. It’s about getting back to basics and living a simplified life. I’m also into all kinds of ’90s new age shit right now, like meditation music or Enigma. I’ve been reading a lot about L. Ron Hubbard, and I find the idea of starting a religion and the collection of followers they obtain fascinating. Maybe that’s because I want people to fall under my spell, too. Pledge your allegiance to Bryce Black or prepare to be basic! Muahahahaha!
- Stephen Funk
On what’s happening in fashion now:
I do love the minimalistic tone that has been in fashion for the last few years. I’m a minimalist at heart. I think fashion has lost all the rules—with trends coming/leaving so quickly and with vintage clothing everywhere, people really are able to wear whatever they like. You really have to try to be irrelevant or dated.
- Stephen Funk
Bryce Black will present new work at Fade to Light Wed Feb 25 at Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside, 8 pm, $12-40