Oh man, so much happening right now in the world of fashion, namely the Fall 2009 Haute Couture shows and the August cover of W starring Lara Stone and whatnot. It's intresting to see the Haute Couture collections of big fashion houses designed during the ongoing recession - it's no accident that John Galliano's Dior was so stripped down, literally, and that this time Chanel's epic stage had the cash cow of the company, the iconic design of No.5 perfume bottle, blown up as the background. The contrast between the huge white bottles and the models strutting past them wearing five figure pieces culminates where the fashion industry (key word: industry) is today. Or where the industry part of it has taken fashion today. Even Lacroix, sweetie, had adjusted! Yet Haute Couture Fall 2009 had an collection that almost made everyone forget the economic situation and concentrate on what matters and the honour of that goes to Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy, one of the youngest couturiers ever, who delievered an immaculate collection. Valentino may have retired on time...the new king of Paris is undoubtedly an Italian one though his inspiration this time came from elsewhere. It's just appropriate that his muse, on and off the runway, Lara Stone graces the cover of W with her name written on the cover with big letters, like she was an actress or someone big enough to move copies anyways.
While the magazine business keeps on striving, this seasons Haute Couture is very much an digital one: the shows are twittered from the beginning to the end, making them online immediately. Long gone are the odd hours after the show when the online world had to wait for the pictures to appear online since someone's Iphone has published them right there at the show. Imagine if the schedule of the Haute Couture wasn't so cut down? Would we have any free time at all instead of following twitter feeds about frocks like slaves? Wait...when was SS10 Ready-to-Wear again? Lucky for me to not hold a job. Oh wait again...aren't we all fashion critics now, almost quicker than the ones who actually get paid for it?
Plus actually...somehow I feel that this recession has injected something to fashion that has made it intresting again. I can't really pin it down but all this blogging and twitter feeds combined with the will to survive in bad times..it's just exciting, isn't it? It's like there's a small fashion army with Haute Couture in the frontline.
Givenchy Haute Couture Fall 2009 pictures from twitter.com/isaaclikes
2 comments:
I feel the same way about recession's impact on fashion, and have felt it a couple of times before (the early 90's and early 00's, to me, both were exciting times in fashion - first Deconstruction, and remember the customizing craze as a counter-reaction to everything digital, minimal, synthetic and mass-produced at the tturn of Millenium: people like Jessica Ogden and Preen turning up?):
Times of excessive consumption (and celebration of excessive consumption) make me - a thrifter by nature - uncomfortable, fashion then seems all about money, huge brands, IT items, rush, rush, rush to the next trend and quick discarding of trends.
Recession feels like a time to breathe, creative people getting together "doing their own thing" (of which bloggging and other internet communities is an excellent example!), recycling and thrifting become credible choices, people get interested in long-lasting quality and demand more functionality of clothes - which can paradoxically translate into more avant-garde fashion than throw-away pretty pieces of the Good Times. As people are less certain to buy just about anything because it's "in Fashion", the best designers really gear up to produce pieces we love and want to cherish. It's certainly a war against depression!
That said, I do wish this time around, we don't get so hysteric about consumption as soon as economy heels (as it will, in time), but take time to think and FEEL fashion deeply.
Sorry for the long rant, and thank you for providing constant fashion inspiration and provoking thoughts!
Recession makes wonders to fashion. Fashion houses really need to think what the put out and some cases there are too many safe choises and smaller fashion designers have chance to come up. And diy is getting even more popular which is great! Still although I like Galliano's extravaganza shows, I liked the toned down show as well. There were the most important in display: the couture.
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