Since last month we were exploring the history of menswear throughout the
Mediterranean, I thought it appropriate to write on a label that is Latin.
Now, by Latin, I don’t mean Latino or Latin American but rather the original Latin, which was spoken by the ancient Romans.
For centuries, Latin was the universal language—the
lingua franca—throughout the Mediterranean. By the 9
th century, Latin had begun to evolve into local languages, such as French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian, and Catalan, all of which we call Romance languages. Latin words, however, appear in hundreds of non-Romance languages around the world.
Q.E.D. is the abbreviation of the Latin phrase
quod erat demonstrandum, which literally translates as ‘that, which was to be demonstrated’—an expression that was used to conclude the proof of a philosophical argument or mathematical problem.
Q.E.D. has been translated into many languages, such as C.Q.F.D. in French (
ce qu'il fallait démontrer), W.Z.B.W. in German (
was zu beweisen war), C.V.D. in Italian (
come volevasi dimostrare), C.Q.D. in Portuguese (
como queríamos demonstrar), and ч.т.д. in Russian (
что и требовалось доказать).
Interestingly, however, the Romans took the expression from the ancient Greeks, who used it after having established a truth by logical deduction: ΟΕΔ (
ὅπερ ἔδει δεῖξαι). “Wow, this history is some heavy stuff,” you say! I concur with a conclusive “Q.E.D.”
Today,
Q.E.D. is no longer restricted to math or philosophy but rather has entered the world of menswear to prove that intelligence is sexy!
QED is the brainchild of Julia
Böge, Simona
Gabrieli and Jasmin
Moallim who founded the menswear label in Berlin, in 2006, around their shared love for the color black.
The 2009 a/w collection entitled “the Man Comes Around” was designed as a homage to the hobo, recalling the good-ole days of the black and white film. In QED’s own words:
“A
somnambulist blend from the music of Tom Waits and the surreal films of Dali & Bunuel forms the mood basis of the season. Hard, darkly, spent, full of recollections, occurrences, life.
The hero is a raconteur, stamped by loss and privation and driven by thirst for adventure and inner riots: an eternal wanderer. This movement is transferred into the statics of the clothes by generous volumes, as well as astonishing pocket solutions and pocket volumes which play a major role in creating the silhouette.”
q.e.d. 2009 a/w collection
photos : David Bornscheuer
model: Ramon@vivamodels
hair&make-up: Franziska Gottschlich
Photo & slideshow 2009 a/w collection "the Man Comes Around" Copyright Q.E.D.
“Clash” typically carries a negative connotation, but not when two diametrically opposed brands lay one hand on contemporary menswear and the other on traditional craftsmanship.
