Interview

Our experience at Threeasfour's Fall 2009 "happening" at Greene Naftali Gallery was many things: complex; cerebral; crowded; a little frustrating to navigate. But amidst the logistics we spotted some memorable aliens in  nude, crystalline mesh hoods. With a new design philosophy that trades the conical for the geometric, ThreeASFOUR sought inspiration in the sharp angles of crystals. But even more than the clothes-which somehow managed to be both sensual and sexless-the models' Swarovski-studded hoods best captured the serene and anonymous asceticism of the collection. Where Margiela masks his models to efface their identities, we like to think that asFour's  used their "hoods" to promote a delicate homogeny. Conceptually, we'd go so far to say they call to mind a certa inaceticism: images of monks, nuns, and... Heaven's Gate emerge. Someone had to say it! Hoods, hats, and their hybrids may be all over the catwalks this week, but these blurred the line between fashion and function, and the sacred and the profane.