Why fashion is obsessed with horror

Bree Esplanada’s aesthetic as seen at Ternocon, Bench Fashion Week, exhibits and custom creations is distinctive because of his fascination with Filipino folklore’s creatures of the night like the half-horse, half-human tikbalang which he illustrates and prints on textiles that are beaded and embroidered. In the world of pageantry, Bryan Diego created the Aswang Transformation gown for Winwyn Marquez in the Miss Universe Philippines showcase, inspired by the 1995 Regal horror film Aswang which originally starred Marquez’s mother, Alma Moreno. Animals are a popular Halloween look with the buwaya getting the most votes since corrupt politicians and contractors of ghost projects have been dominating the news. 

Revolution and gore

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Bloody casualties and violent acts are graphic images that make for great drama on the runway. John Galliano at Dior in 2006 brought a lot of vibrant red and historical references from the French Revolution’s chaos and rebellion while at Gucci’s FW 2018 show, models carried their “own” severed heads.

Decay

The 1983 film The Hunger is about an ancient Egyptian vampire (Catherine Deneuve) who grants a version of immortality to her human lovers but cannot bestow her true, permanent agelessness which her latest paramour (David Bowie) discovers as he suddenly ages rapidly. The juxtaposition of eternal allure and gruesome biological decay inspired Alexander McQueen for his SS 1996 collection which featured transparent Perspex corsets filled with living, squirming worms.

Cannibalism

The Silence of the Lambs (1991), starring Anthony Hopkins as the deadly cannibalistic psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter, was used as a conceptual hook by Gareth Pugh to explore “the visual codes of raw female ambition,” showcasing an imposing and highly protective display of femininity that intimidates the patriarchy through strong-shouldered tailoring, dominatrix collars, restraint masks and coats in tan leather that recall the “woman suits” that the serial killer Buffalo Bill wanted to create from the skin of his victims. 

Frankenstein 

Frankenstein, Mary Shelley’s 1818 foundational science-fiction novel about a scientist’s discovery of the secret to generating life and his employing mismatched anatomical parts to animate a conscious, towering Creature has engendered many film versions including Bride of Frankenstein as well as fashion collections, from Prada’s and Thom Browne’s hybrid garments that mimic piecemeal limbs to John Galliano’s draped, wraparound structures that echo surgical bandages. 

‘The birds’

Alfred Hitchcock’s icy blondes clad in tightly cinched Edith Head suits are a perennial reference for designers who adopt the 1960s color palette and weave the cinematic tension into their designs. For Alexander McQueen, it’s the violent imagery of The Birds (1963) that resonated in his SS 1995 collection that turned models into living roadkill, with sharp tailoring, naturally.