Seen Users

Romanian sleeper label Seen Users eases itself onto the scene with an air of decisive indecision: that is, by way of garments that sit on the fence of formality. The essence of ‘dragging their feet’ manifests as cut-front trouser legs, the resulting ribbons casually knotted and dangling, or as sports coats, folded and tacked to bare a single shoulder. This pretense of hesitance is in fact a thin blanket, and when laid bare, Seen’s intentional concepts and implementation throw form and expectation off balance.

Romantic and invitingly noir, Seen christens its designs with names that could have been breathed by a Casablanca actress (‘You Had Me At Goodbye’/‘Drive Me Home, Dr.’). Tailored jackets mutate into floor-dusting dress panels or alternatively, half of a dainty slip, satin spaghetti strap resting upon a strong wool shoulder. Loopback hoodies, sleeves cut and curling, are inlaid with scalloped lace curtains just translucent enough to flash a hint of the figure beneath (What did you see? Did you really?). And impossible to ignore is the motif of the illusory: staggered-hem jeans face ‘forward’ both ways, while pinstriped pants flaunt fake jetted pockets that are nothing more than vents for passing cloth through. And the faux flowers—numerous, jeweled at their centers and dotting necklines and forearms—create a surreal freshness that reminds us of how things are not what they seem, but rather what they’re Seen (and what’s seen? Nothing less than exquisite).

Related: Rokh, Sacai