While most of the US was watching the Super Bowl Sunday night and hoping for a sighting of Taylor Swift, the fashionista pack in New York was crammed in to see the debut collection of French designer Ludovic De Saint Sernin.

Sernin was born In Brussels 33 years ago, brought up in France, and cut his teeth working in the house of Balmain for 2 years.

His label launched in Paris in 2017 and he has shown in Paris since then, This is his first show foray into New York Fashion Week. The inspiration and mood come with the aid of The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation.  Previously Raf Simons (co-creator of Prada) had also worked with the Foundation in 2016.. Ludovic is now bringing Mapplethorpe to a new generation.

Mapplethorpe was notoriously famous in *0’s New York. As a photographer of exquisite flower images, he also photographed famous people’s children and superstar portraits. On the other hand, he shot explicit homo erotic BDSM black and white images. If you don’t know the name it is worth looking him up, but beware some images are very controversial.

Ludovic is part of the new “Queer Wave” in fashion design and culture at large. His designs cross between masculinity and feminity and at the same time question the validity of those binary terms in the first place. He used to this effect Mapplethorpe’s flower photography as sheer organdie t-shirts with hand-cut velvet images and singular flower motifs applied to leather dresses as well. Leading on from ‘other’ inspirations to leather hoods and “Butt Cleavage” leather jeans and jocks exposing a few inches of crack. As a Vogue journalist said ‘we must have missed a fun after-party’

GRAHAM FRASER 
Culture, Fashion and Arts Correspondent 

Graham Fraser was once half of the award-winning FASHION DESIGNER duo 
WORKERS FOR FREEDOM. Years spent working in the luxury end of 
INTERNATIONAL FASHION  he now lives with his partner the artist RICHARD NOTT and 
their two Cavapoos Albert and Raf in a stunning renovated 1950’s house on the edge of 
the Sussex Downs with distant sea views. queerguru.com/?s=graham+fraser