Ana Locking, Too Young to Die Old

Too Young To Die Old” It is a way of feeling, of living and of dying young. An experimental, passionate and all-encompassing spirit that ignores age but is sensitive to time and to stories of vibrant emotions, those that interpret a permanent attempt to do what needs to be done and to be whoever you want to be. This vibration is the basis of a personal certainty: even if I am 100 years old when I die, I will still die young.

The collection reflects the electrifying fury of generational youth movements; a knowing wink to its emotional energy and its fast-paced ways of expressing life. 

Parameters that over the decades have been building Generation X (to which I belong), Millennials and now Gen-Z or iGen, converge with symbolic experiences of a convulsive, exciting present. Sex and gender issues, for example, progressively blur their lines and shape their intrinsic elasticity thanks to the LGBTIQ struggle.

Adolescence is a decisive stage in the construction of emotional landscapes. Teenage existentialism tends to get lost in dream-like tangents, which are both conscious and hypnotic, but also extremely treacherous. Hyper-articulate, extravagant and analytical young people often use flippancy as a defence mechanism against hurtful outbursts from those who do not yet have a catalogue of experiences. This protective resource, which from my point of view (that of someone who has not been a teenager for almost 30 years) runs out of steam as life goes by, sometimes coexists with teenage angsts and melancholy.

Many of my creative interests have been closely linked to the coordinates of the marginal, to the periphery of contemporary cultures and subcultures and to the subversive elements of youth movements. That is why this time, once again, they take the main role. 

“Too Young To Die Old" evokes the intoxicating vitality of human relationships and their pure teenage yearning. The collection jumps from a dark look, reflected in a black and white beginning dotted with marks (a metaphor of anxiety, confusion and insecurity in relationships) to an electrifying evolution that experiments with colour and textures to represent bright moments that light up the need for freedom and future happiness.

It is a very graphic, shameless collection, with quiet moments that are equally forceful. A dreamy drama with a modulated narrative that knows when to push and when to back off, aesthetically speaking, that replicates the emotional and physical maturity in the brains of my teenage subjects. Emotions and thoughts which are always represented by vibrant and sophisticated electricity.

COLOURS AND FABRICS:
Sequinned black with velvety graphite stain finishes, smoky spots on rib knit and houndstooth backgrounds, grey taffeta, silver polka dots on black and white houndstooth, midnight blue tweed with cascading embroidered sequins in silver and black, royal blue organza with metallic floral prints in fire red, metallic aquamarine, tangerine and pale green, faux fur in lavender, alpaca cloth and mohair in bubblegum pink, jacquard in forest green with black orchids, circular appliqués of metallic multicoloured fringes, Fortuny pleats on metallic floral print, blood red tweed with graphite floral print, tulle with floral sequin embroidery.