Heron Preston: TSA travel party gear

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Jan 15, 2019

In a French menswear fashion week full of debuts, Heron Preston kicked off the Paris season on Monday afternoon with a tremendous bang.

 
A gutsy, fierce fashion statement, melding casual sportswear, athleisure and clubbing gear with a clever travel twist. Its theme was modern day travel, and more specifically airport security. So, four huge security guards with Alsatian dogs with leather muzzles greeted guests as they arrived at the Palais de Tokyo for the opening show of the six-day season.
 
The actual runway entrance was through two metal detectors; and models frequently paused at the end of the catwalk to send their accessories through a life-size scanner.

None of this would matter if the clothes did not work. Fortunately, this collection packed plenty of kick. For guys, nylon track pants, clingy sweaters and great leather blousons with contrasting saddle stitching.  For girls, tubular-shaped puffer jackets, long loose dusters and snug safaris. All made in primary colors and trimmed with offbeat signage and retro-futurist military insignia.
 
There was perhaps little very revolutionary about the collection, but the show had fantastic gusto. 
 
One gal in a microfiber suit cut with a mini jacket and short skirt, made in sherbet with burnished edges, just looked sensational. A deceptively simple look that you couldn’t take your eyes off.
 
The cast also clearly loved the clothes; it felt like they wanted to walk right off the runway to a hot date in this gear.

 
“I travel around the world a lot. So, airports, TSA, security that is always in my face was my concept. I’ve always explored the culture of club wear, so TSA was the next work-wear agency that I was inspired by,” the designer explained.
 
TSA for the uninitiated means the Territorial Security Agency, which is ever-present at all American airports since 9/11. Though, fellow airport workers do sometimes call them Thousands Standing Around. 
 
“I dreamed up this concept way before the government shut down. So, the timing turned out to be crazy. The stars aligned!” smiled Preston.
 
Preston is the latest hot label to have emerged from New Guards Group, the Italian assemblage of DJs and hipsters that also includes Marcelo Burlon’s County of Milan and Virgil Abloh’s Off-White. Both of them sitting front row, after entering in a blaze of paparazzi lights.
 
Post-show, Preston was mobbed in the backstage; no one was more enthusiastic than Abloh, Louis Vuitton’s menswear designer.
 
“Give this man some champagne! Preston, you deserve a drink!” Abloh yelled as they embraced.