Jenni Contreras marks her 10th year in fashion by collaborating again with youth brand, HUMAN
Seconds before the start of the HUMAN fashion show during the recent BENCH Fashion Week Holiday 2024 season, there played a tune reminiscent of a classic ‘70s movie, Close Encounter of the Third Kind, directed by Steven Spielberg. From that tune alone, the audience already got this notion that the collection would be something futuristic.
As the “out-of-this-world-track” suddenly turned into a catchy party-vibe track by Daft Punk, a model in neon polo and midriff long sleeve shirt suddenly popped up for the runway strut. This was only one of Jenni Contreras’ 21-piece collection which she titled, Chapter 2: Universe H, her second collaboration with the brand.
For this collaboration with HUMAN, Contreras’ task was mainly to provide the technical and creative sketches as well as the creative direction. “The design part I was able to finish within a month— April last year. But it took more than a year to really produce the collection and release it,” she said.
Her futuristic collection is inspired by the world of AI, and retro sci-fi movies from the ‘60s and ‘70s. Contreras experimented a lot with prints, and with the style and cut of clothes. She emphasized that she really went big on prints, and mixed them to make them look alien-like and from-out-of-space. “My key pieces are mainly the printed tops. Because I experimented a lot with the prints,” Contreras said. “I’m also a graphic designer so I like working with digital prints.”
“The production team in Human used a lot of sports fabrics for this collection,” Contreras said. “They used light neoprene for the oversized printed tees, heavy blend cotton for the sweaters and boxer shorts, and mesh for the tight long-sleeve turtlenecks and skirts.”
“I want people to be transported to this ‘out worldly’ setting,” Contreras said. Contreras also added that even if her inspiration was all about un-human elements like aliens, technology, the future, people would still see the irony of it, that despite all this technological advancement, we do not lose our humanity. Such point of view made this one of the most memorable collections in the recent BENCH Fashion Week.
Contreras, who started designing clothes in 2014, also marks her 10th year in fashion this year. “I really enjoy working with Human. Because I get to design clothes not necessarily for my target market. So it’s a lot of fun,” she said.
Backstage photography by Kim Montes
