“The whole collection is very much inspired from where I come from,” said Vincent Frederic-Colombo, a Paris-born designer, who was raised in Guadeloupe, the Caribbean archipelago that’s an overseas department and region of France.
His fashion is meant to reflect the deep history and historical crafts-making from Africa — “and doing things in a very slow way,” Frederic-Colombo said. “Also, it’s highlighting the alternate African narrative. A lot of times, people have this preconceived idea of what African fashion is. I want to dismantle those notions and show that African fashion is so many things.”
Similarly, the word C.R.E.O.L.E. can become an acronym for “Consciousness Relative to Emancipation Overcoming Obstacles.”
Frederic-Colombo sets out to decolonize his fashion, which he described as coming from not just a place, but also from the music he consumes, and the art and cinema he enjoys.
Fusing worlds together, the designer aims to create a new aesthetic. His silhouettes are informed by traditional garments, as are the prints, but they’re used to springboard forward, instead of looking back.
Workwear is fundamental to C.R.E.O.L.E., with some tailoring and techniques, such as lace and crochet, nodding to womenswear. A sheer men’s shirt with silver paillettes came paired with brown shorts with a similar trim. A shirt with wide vertical dyed stripes, in greens, yellows, oranges and reds, was worn with matching long shorts.
More sartorial pieces included a black blazer with high wide mock lapels or a long, more traditionally cut, olive-colored blazer with matching baggy trousers.
The spring collection paid homage to “Coco-La-Fleur, Candidat,” a 1979 French drama about a Guadeloupian man who gets engaged in an electoral scheme cooked up by Parisian politicians.