Fashion hasn't progressed much in the past 15-ish years. We've had some fantastic designers, Galliano, McQueen, etc. But there hasn't been anything new and suited to life in the 21st century.
Here are the three designers making current work that matters:
1: Alber Elbaz at Lanvin
He makes clothes for any age, lifestyle, style, or shape. His clothes can be taken apart and worn for different occasions or styles. It's not like the fifties anymore where women did one thing, stay at home. Women now have kids, they work, they go out, they travel. And one skirt from Lanvin can accommodate all of those. His clothes are functional, but beautiful. They make you dream regardless of whether or not they're Galliano for Dior couture.
His resort 2011 collection featured fabric interwoven with metal. Skirts could be long for work, and made shorter for evening. He made reversible jackets, one side severe and one girly. Perhaps it's gimmicky, but it's really not. It's smart. We're running around, going to work, to parties, on airplanes, packing a carry on, and we have no time or need to fuss with our clothing all the time. We can buy a Lanvin coat (a smart investment) and it will last us forever, whatever mood, whatever age, and we can transition it between any situation we're in. That's contemporary and new, and it's what we need our clothing to do for us now.
2: Phoebe Philo at Céline
She's actually doing new shapes, and they have the same versatile aspects as Elbaz's. We don't have one reigning style or lifestyle like it was in the 20th century. We can wear whatever we want now, and Philo understands that. Her clothes are just beautiful, colors, cut, quality. It seems so obvious and trivial, but it's actually super important and undervalued. Fashion's been distracted by loving whoever can be the most outrageous and exciting every season. We don't care how it's made, or if it's functional. We just want Anna Dello Russo, and it fits no one's life. Fashion follows function, and that look is functional for about 50 people.
3: Raf Simons at Dior, and anywhere else he is.
So why don't I just go to K-Mart and get some functional clothes there? Because functional isn't a bad thing. The women Schiaparelli designed for found her large and in charge clothes extremely functional. They impressed the people they sat across from in cafés, like they did all the time because they had a ton of money and just acted as their name, café society, suggests. Schiap's clothes fit that lifestyle. Function isn't bad or boring, it's a fact. Why would you want to wear something that doesn't fit your life, it's absurd. What makes fashion so cool is that it's creative, it makes you dream, and at the end of the day you have to wear it. Being creative within those parameters is super difficult, and Raf Simons does it. Look at the direction he took Dior couture. Beautiful, dreamy, will last 100 years, through all the trends that come and go seasonally now. And that's what you're paying for with his couture. The ultimate current wardrobe. Optimal quality, dreaminess, and functionality. For a life that moves so quickly you need stable, yet wonderful, clothes to fit it and all it's daily changes.
And these campaigns:
The Lanvin ones feature non-models
Here are the three designers making current work that matters:
1: Alber Elbaz at Lanvin
He makes clothes for any age, lifestyle, style, or shape. His clothes can be taken apart and worn for different occasions or styles. It's not like the fifties anymore where women did one thing, stay at home. Women now have kids, they work, they go out, they travel. And one skirt from Lanvin can accommodate all of those. His clothes are functional, but beautiful. They make you dream regardless of whether or not they're Galliano for Dior couture.
His resort 2011 collection featured fabric interwoven with metal. Skirts could be long for work, and made shorter for evening. He made reversible jackets, one side severe and one girly. Perhaps it's gimmicky, but it's really not. It's smart. We're running around, going to work, to parties, on airplanes, packing a carry on, and we have no time or need to fuss with our clothing all the time. We can buy a Lanvin coat (a smart investment) and it will last us forever, whatever mood, whatever age, and we can transition it between any situation we're in. That's contemporary and new, and it's what we need our clothing to do for us now.
2: Phoebe Philo at Céline
She's actually doing new shapes, and they have the same versatile aspects as Elbaz's. We don't have one reigning style or lifestyle like it was in the 20th century. We can wear whatever we want now, and Philo understands that. Her clothes are just beautiful, colors, cut, quality. It seems so obvious and trivial, but it's actually super important and undervalued. Fashion's been distracted by loving whoever can be the most outrageous and exciting every season. We don't care how it's made, or if it's functional. We just want Anna Dello Russo, and it fits no one's life. Fashion follows function, and that look is functional for about 50 people.
3: Raf Simons at Dior, and anywhere else he is.
So why don't I just go to K-Mart and get some functional clothes there? Because functional isn't a bad thing. The women Schiaparelli designed for found her large and in charge clothes extremely functional. They impressed the people they sat across from in cafés, like they did all the time because they had a ton of money and just acted as their name, café society, suggests. Schiap's clothes fit that lifestyle. Function isn't bad or boring, it's a fact. Why would you want to wear something that doesn't fit your life, it's absurd. What makes fashion so cool is that it's creative, it makes you dream, and at the end of the day you have to wear it. Being creative within those parameters is super difficult, and Raf Simons does it. Look at the direction he took Dior couture. Beautiful, dreamy, will last 100 years, through all the trends that come and go seasonally now. And that's what you're paying for with his couture. The ultimate current wardrobe. Optimal quality, dreaminess, and functionality. For a life that moves so quickly you need stable, yet wonderful, clothes to fit it and all it's daily changes.
And these campaigns:
The Lanvin ones feature non-models
I love the formal outfit but yet very fashionable good to pair with my Cheap Costume Jewelry :D
ReplyDeleteYou look so great with your fashion and desire.
ReplyDelete