Pyer Moss Fall/Winter 2016 Collection “Double Bind” takes on mental health

By

Dani Greene

Published
Feb 18, 2016

Kerby Jean-Raymond, creator of label Pyer Moss, isn’t afraid to take on highly charged political issues. This season was no exception. Entitled “Double Bind,” Jean-Raymond dissects some of the roots of African American depression.
 
Double bind occurs when individuals or groups are simultaneously given conflicting messages or instructions. A successful response to one automatically becomes a failing response to the other. That individual or community experiences the double bind when it is impossible to confront the dilemma, resolve it or opt out. Some researchers assert that children subjected to double bind situations are more likely to become schizophrenic as adults. Jean-Raymond asks: “What does schizophrenia look like for an entire community?”
 

On the runway, this question took many forms. Models were dressed in shirts that read “Why so blue” and “I have no friends in LA.” Brightly colored buttons adorned hats and coats with various ways people medicate mental illness, including Zoloft, Molly, Prozac, booze and LSD. In the background, a live operatic choir sang morphed versions of Future’s “Trap N*****s,” Fetty Wap’s “RGF Island” and the black national anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
 
The show culminated in with a model dressed in blue carrying a sign that read: “My Demons Won Today Im Sorry” in reference to Black Lives Matter activist MarShawn McCarrel, who committed suicide February 8 on the Ohio Statehouse steps. He had posted the same message on Facebook apologizing for his suicide. Kerby Jean-Raymond proves that fashion can be a vehicle for change, that fashion can ask provoking questions that make us question.

Pyer Moss was established in 2013 by Kerby Jean-Raymond. Originally a project to transform traditional athletic into luxury sportswear, the brand continues to innovate and reimagine menswear each season. Pyer Moss has received international acclaim by major publications including GQ and Vogue and Kerby Jean-Raymon won the FGI Rising Star Award for menswear in 2014.