Having presented this season’s collection on models who frolicked in the shallow depths of a makeshift wading pool, Danshan‘s raison d’être approach to gender fluid design was given a very literal backdrop for FW19. Here, in a film created in collaboration with Dexter Lander and Luke Farley and exclusive to HERO, those waves are set in motion.

The soft folds of satin, sensuous cuts and gentle contours that characterised much of this collection are echoed in the gentle motion of ripples. A tap of a foot or the dragging of a hem creates not only a physical wave but a metaphorical one – waves which stream into a new man’s consciousness, lapping at his sense of masculinity and imbibing a “tenderness and fluidity” that the design duo claim must prevail over the “sterile coldness” if their clothes are to be successful. Still waters run deep, indeed.

Danshan want to make you feel something – and sometimes, just anything. The satin sleeves, for example, are a means of encouragement, a direction of use to reach out and touch that they hope will help thaw archaic conceptions of masculinity.

DANSHAN AW19 FILM from HERO magazine on Vimeo.