With another fashion season here I thought this may be a good time to bring up something that seems to be taken for granted but yet gets re-assessed from time to time- the question of "what is the fashion of NOW?"
While purging some old articles I came across a NYT piece by Guy Trebay posing the question of why designers don't seem to be able to design for TODAY and why there is a constant revisiting of past decades or a jump ahead to the future for reference. In fact, he begins the article by asking "When did today become such an impossible idea?" (read the article here)
Just recently, after the Christian Dior couture show, fashion expert Suzy Menkes made a statement that Galliano "could have done with a little less past and a little more present."
So while Nicholas Ghesquiere can do a fashion show in 2006 that many said referenced fashion in 2025 and Dior is referencing the 40's, 50's and the days when women rode side saddle (and getting critiqued for it), we can ask "what would fashion of 2010 look like?"
Previously to the Couture shows, the Men's Fall 2010 collections showed an abundance of heritage looks, reflecting the respective brands' expertise and origins. This in itself has been an ongoing theme for several seasons now. But are we learning anything new?
Looking back to go forward is not new and many would argue that the mood of fashion reflects the mood of the people at the time- optimism leads to fashion influenced by happy times (ie the 50's) and bad times reference dark and rebellious (ie gothic or punk). And sometimes we want to put the past and future together (Steampunk). Karl Lagerfeld was recently asked about futurism to which he responded "I hate that. I don't believe in avant-garde clothes for a future that will never happen. Fashion is always now."
But is it?
So the questions are asked:
- what would fashion of 2010 look like if designers had to reference only that year?
- what does the word "modern" mean?
- can we design a collection without referencing the past or future? Is it even possible?
- do consumers drive this by living in the tomorrow and buying for next week?
- what does it mean to live in the NOW and do we really want to?
Discuss.
