Mod...

There has been a lot of talk lately about fashion and it's search for "new", or in the case of recent discussions its lack of newness. There seems to be an overall decline in innovation within fashion, and the recent death of McQueen did not help the matters. Even the sacred house of Balenciaga has been at a standstill; three seasons of the same pastel sack dresses? Sure, some designers still are pushing boundaries, but more often than not their efforts fall short of expectations. I remember when I first started taking note of fashion, it was a horribly exciting time with so much going on. John Galliano was putting on extravagant shows that appropriated every cultural and historical reference he could get ahold of. Hussein Chalayan was toying with notions of transportation and time (who can forget his S/S 2007 collection with the clothes that literally transformed themselves?). Stefano Pilati took hold of YSL and put out show after show of a singular androgynous vision of a super chic modern woman. Hedi Slimane pushed menswear into the underground electro scene of Berlin, and changed the way that an entire generation dressed. And there was Alexander McQueen, constantly examining himself and putting everything he had into his shows. I could go on and on about these designers that inspired me back then, and I could go on and on now about how they seem to have succumb to the system of the fashion world. All of this has been on my mind for some time, but it was not until I revisited some of the earlier Resort shows this season that I felt like saying something. 

John Galliano at Christian Dior; notice any similarities? His A/W 2005 show (left, 2011 Resort right) was a break through for the designer at Dior. Gone were the shows that tossed all his references into a single look, a style that was very much "everything and the kitchen sink". John had looked to 60's mod culture and showed a new level of refinement for himself. The clothes referenced the past, but felt more modern than mod. Since then, our bad boy of british fashion has settled down, stuck in a 60's pigeon hole, continuing to hone in on a period of time and refine it to the point where it becomes more costume than fashion. Sure the clothes are beautiful and certainly well made, but season after season it all looks the same. Even his own line is starting to get repetitive. I can't even imagine the pressure that he has from designing upwards of 16 collections each year, but that is the job description. So I don't really know what else to say about him, maybe the amount of work has caused him to refine his style in search of perfection each season. But what about other designers? Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Laura and Kate Mulleavy, the girls behind Rodarte, but their fantastic (and they really are) draped dresses that incorporate every material imaginable, start to feel stale when they are shown season after season. When they started out they incorporated all sorts of clothes into the shows with only a few signature dresses and knits at the end. Each season, the amount of signatures increased. Now, they are the show. The thing is, they are not an isolated case of mundanity. Everywhere designers have fallen back to "classics", and look upon their design past to design for the future. One of my favorite quotes comes from Oscar Wilde - Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - I think what he said was as true today as it was when he wrote it. I think as fashion designers it is our job to be innovative and forward thinking. Without those two things, Fashion design turns into costume design. 

I have been asked what separates personal style from being fashionable. My answer was that fashion changes, style remains the same. You can be entirely fashionable if you wish, and your look will change season after season, more often than not these people turn into victims of fashion. There are also people that are incredibly stylish, and their look will stay the same no matter what the present fashions are. Of course there are many people who have both, they follow fashion and stay with the times, but they have certain constants that make them who they are. I think the same answer can be applied to the difference between fashion design and costume design. John Galliano at Dior, in my opinion, is quickly falling into the realm of costume design, season after season it is the same colors, ideas, and 60's inspiration. The girls at Rodarte, they are that middle ground only because each collection reference entirely different things, and they remain separate from each other. While their draped dresses and knits are the collection, each seasons style changes drastically. Post apocalyptic one season, Mexican boarder towns the next. There are a lot of new designers out there pushing boundaries, but many established people are either toning their work down, refining those "classics", or they leave their post for various reasons (Olivier Theyskens, Martin Margiela?). I just think the fashion world needs a good injection of inspiration, a pep talk, or something to get the wheels rolling again. I miss that excitement that got me interesting in fashion in the first place. Thanks for staying with me if you have gotten this far. This was just something that I had been thinking about for some time now. And John... You better work!