It took 49 years for a black British solo artist to headline Glastonbury. So when he did, Stormzy made sure that every element of his performance held up to the inspection which was sure to follow.
The inimitable grime artist appeared on the Pyramid stage in a stab-proof vest painted with an almost-monochrome Union Jack. It was a punch of visual tension, whose message was underlined by the quote which flashed across the stage's giant screens: "The system isn’t working."
Though the two-hour set which followed was powerful and political, it was this opening tableau which made the biggest impact: a pitch-perfect statement on the UK's issues with knife crime, policing and race, told through a garment capable of stopping a .45 calibre bullet.
As it later emerged, the vest was created by the ever-elusive Banksy, who announced the work with an Instagram post: "I made a customised stab-proof vest and thought – who could possibly wear this?"
This type of driven aesthetic is one which has variously been explored for the past few seasons by brands including Off-White, A-Cold-Wall and Alyx, and latterly institutions such as Louis Vuitton and Dior. It is a story of guerrilla military styling, complete with bulletproof vests, harness straps and gun holster-style bags. Vogue's Sarah Mower dubbed it warcore, "a strain of clothing that is reflective of the violence, chaos, and widespread anxiety in the world at large".
By no means is this an original invention (Helmut Lang was doing bulletproof vests in the 1990s, after all), nor a call-to-arms in itself. But, if nothing else, the warcore aesthetic is an interesting reminder of how fashion reflects society, and the concerns of the time.
