Lots and lots of labels play around with pop-culture themes, whether it’s McDonalds or Looney Tunes. Exceedingly few do it like Koché. Words like “fresh” and “elevated” grow wearisome, so I’ll try not to use anything like that here, but boy, does Christelle Kocher know how to take a singular theme and play with it in a way that never feels stale.
For her pre-fall 2019 collection, Kocher took us to a place most delightful and unexpected: Planet Hollywood. Sandwiched between a Sunglasses Hut and the Lyceum Theatre—prime Times Square—Planet Hollywood was cool as hell in the ’90s. The era of big-budget films and stars, the themed restaurant chain was launched with the backing of what sounds like a ’90s commercial action film cast lineup: Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“I started looking at those old photos of the first big Planet Hollywood party and I couldn’t get them out of my mind,” Kocher told Vogue. “It was the era of big blockbuster movies and the era of the supermodel, and the restaurant was so glam at the time. These movie stars, models, and athletes were drinking Champagne with the Planet Hollywood T-shirts on, and they just had fun.”
Koché’s show—and collection—brought back that same sense of fun. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis weren’t there, but the clothes packed star power. The black-and-red zebra-print carpet was a very complimentary accessory to the label’s romantic and campy take on streetwear.
In the world of Koché, a very ruffled Victorian blouse makes sense next to a hot-pink fur coat and a Y2K-hued baseball jersey. Not many designers are able to pay tongue-in-cheek tribute to pop-culture relics very much of a certain era while simultaneously presenting a future of what fashion could look like. Kocher is one of the rare ones.