Sometimes it takes losing something to realize just how much we loved it in the first place, which is what happened to me recently when I realized that Meadham Kirchhoff, a fashion brand known for their playful, whimsical, theatrical looks, no longer exists. I know what you’re thinking- If I was a true fan, then the fact that Meadham Kirchhoff is defunct would be old news (very old news) because they went out of business in 2015, but the fashion industry is so fast-paced and full of so many things happening and bombarding your attention every second of every day, that one or two brands may slip through your fingers and be lost in the swirling miasma of your memory (sorry Meadham Kirchhoff!).
All of this to say that I was very sad when I navigated to the Meadham Kirchhoff page on Vogue Runway, only to be met with the fact that their last show uploaded was from 2015. Ouch, oof, owie, my fashion bones.
Way back in the heyday of my fashion Tumblr (remember when everyone had one of those?) Meadham Kirchhoff’s girly, fantastical, wonderfully-vibrant designs were something I never failed to reblog, wanting to immortalize their lovely clothes forever in my internet scrapbook. And it’s pretty obvious why- this brand is everything I love about fashion.
For one, Meadham Kirchhoff makes pieces that are extremely fun, including fur jackets with cherry motifs patchworked together from different colors of fur; black, Victorian-inspired coats fit for a funeral; dainty, frilly dresses that emulate the look of a cake that might have been seen in Sophia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette;” and plenty of pastels to satisfy the whims of my girly-girl heart. Meadham Kirchhoff didn’t care about what sold, or what the fashion industry called for, they went against the grain and created looks that appealed to their own artistic sensibilities- and each of their collections came with a message, too.
Of course, one of my biggest passions is expounding on the idea that fashion is an art, and that more people should appreciate it as such, so, perhaps the thing I’ll miss most about this iconic brand is the way that Meadham Kirchhoff presented their collections. There was almost always some sort of show to drive home the central theme of the collections. One of their most iconic showings saw a clique of Courtney Love lookalikes applying lipstick and dancing across the runway, while models stepped off of a giant cake, as though they were smiling, plastic cake toppers come to life. In another, the lights were brought down low, and models tromped down the runway in their vibrant, jubilant clothes to the sound of disco music accented with swirling, colored spotlights that made you want to party. In another show that riffed off the trope of uniforms and uniformity, an army of models quickly traversed the runway that was decorated with displays that you might see at those haunting spots along roads and highways where somebody suffered a fatal car crash.
What does it all mean? Sometimes, it’s a jubilant show of youth and rebellion, of shirking the expected in the name of theatricality and art- while sometimes, it means nothing at all. That’s the fun of Meadham Kirchhoff – things that seem layered in meaning are intentionally meaningless, where the small, intricate, and unforgettable details create characters and tell stories that you’ll never forget. I only wish their brand could have survived to show us more of their joyous world.
Check out some of my favorite looks from all of their collections below:
