It has been known to
say that there is ultimately nothing new under the sun. This statement couldn’t
be truer within the realms of the fashion industry, however it doesn’t stop
designers from applying themselves season after season to produce spectacular
shows and traffic stopping looks.
Lace will always be lace and cotton will always be cotton, but
the zeitgeist is always captured beautifully in the creative minds that put
design to paper.
The evolution of
trends, styles and fashions once moved in a forty year time cycle, but now more
than ever we are able to see fashion literally everywhere we go through the use
of technology. Technologies ability to share style across the world has
influenced trends on a momentous scale. Street style is what consumers are
wearing, and designers have tapped into this by producing collections to suit.
The shift pattern of
trends has since changed according to the seasons in the last five years or so,
it has been influenced by fashion houses heeding to current affairs, taking
note as to what is happening in the world of their consumers.
Fetish vs. Flirty is a
prime example of seasonal trend up-cycling or transitioning. Last years
autumn/winter saw designers like Giles Deacon, Alexander McQueen and Thierry
Mugler dream up ‘la
douleur exquise’.Sheer panels encouraging
a game of peek-a-boo, leather skirts for practical dressing and spiked heels
for the office were all part of the look.Day or night fetish fashion was ago.
Now in
this current spring/summer season our uber feminine dress-up candy queens have
been unleashed through the likes of Antonio Marras, Chanel and Erdem. Twin-sets in baby pink, blouses in lilac
and 1950s housewife are all part of the style specification.
With a
slight nod to feminism, the fashion duo Meadham Kirchhoff took flirty to a another
level. One of the most talked
about shows in September it set the tongues of the editors wagging with
bittersweet anticipation. Their
collection took people on a journey through the mind with thoughts provoking
the idea of a woman and what she should be and look like. Full of frou frou,
ruffles, sugar, extremely bright pastels and marabou feathers their pieces
reflected the somewhat extreme raw side of flirty like Louis Vuitton did with
Fetish.
His
women slowly crept out of a vintage Parisian gold leaf elevator- with a night
porter to hold their bags. The show really set the scene and the clothes enticed
you unexpectedly, as if it was wrong to want to look this good whilst possibly
being bad.
Polished
and revered in both looks Badgley Mischka and Giles Deacon presented their
flirty and fetish ideas in a modest way but still ticking all the boxes.
Through
all the growth of blogs, social networking and online activity, the integrity
of the visions of designers has not been lost, i.e. even though Alexander McQueen
is no-longer with us, his vision of his brand has been continued and still
celebrates the McQueen woman.
The most
important thing about both these trends, is that designers have really left it
open for us to decide who we want to be, and how we perceive ourselves in
society. Both looks have an element of fun, power, style and grace, but all
that’s needed is an injection of YOU into the look.
