Fashion Symbols with Aynura Maye

Bringing together the opposites

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Mother Archetype IX – Part Human, Part Supernatural

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Jung’s warning was not to limit or reduce the phenomena of mother to human proportions. It would strip off the multilayered meaning and misplace that huge burden on the shoulders of a fragile human being. This archetype is bigger and beyond us. It carries both the wisdom and wicked of the nature and the memory of evolution. It is part of us, but also not us. We project this archetype on anything that nourishes and provides safe nest – such as House, Home, City, Church, Mosque and all other homes of God, land, cave, moon and sometimes even tree. She is the dwelling of spirit.

Basically, she is a forming agent of our identity and sense of belonging. But anything that traps us in our shell is also Mother. In negative aspect, it chains our arms to our old-identities. But it doesn’t end here. Just like nature she represents deep layers of obscurity, darkness and ambiguity, even death. The negative symbols portraying the Mother are depth, darkness, night, death, coffin, sea dragons, monsters etc. All are the characters we over and over see in myths and fairy tales, maybe sometimes in our dreams and definitely in religious texts. The wrath or kindness of this archetype very much depends on our attitude towards it.

Ironically, our professional success, bank account etc. doesn’t concern her. The evolution of our soul is what is in her agenda. The more we fail to realize it, the more hostile this force becomes towards us. Then the more miserable our life becomes. Naturally, sense of meaninglessness and depression follow next. Yet, coming in terms with it may mean major transformation in our mind, behavior and life. Easier to say, in fact this is our fear – letting go old attachments and identities and being born into new unknown skin.

Read other posts of the series:
Mother Archetype I
Mother Archetype II – Son Lover of the Mother Goddess
Mother Archetype III – Don Juanism
Mother Archetype IV – Homosexuality and Impotence
Mother Archetype V – Exaggerated Maternal Instinct
Mother Archetype VI – Home-Wrecker With a Mission
Mother Archetype VII – Shadow Daughter
Mother Archetype VIII – Mom Hater
Mother Archetype X – Motherland
Mother Archetype XI – Teenage Crisis – Libido
Mother Archetype XII – Incest: Problem or Solution?

Photo: Unsplash.com

Rise of New Fashion Breed: Gamefluencers

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Sorry skateboard culture, a new generation is in rise – the digital, online, click happy, above all indoor (!) generation. Oh, and the instainfluencers, there is a bad news for you too, time to cede the crown to the gamefluencers.

NOTE: This article was written in the summer of 2019, following Paris Fashion Week. It was deemed not correct or irrelevant by the fashion experts then. Very much embarrassed and confused, I hid it under files and archives, dusting it off only now. It’s a very relevant and unfolding horizon now for high/luxury fashion.

Italians famously “dabbed” when Milan got to host 2026 winter Olympics games. I bet they would do some “floss dancing” too but that is a hard one to master. Probably, it seems unrelated why I talk about dabbing and floss dancing while I am supposed to talk about the future of fashion. I am coming there.

Almost in that same week we observed stylistically highly blurred men’s fashion on the runways in Paris. The conclusion was easy to reach – we are about to have new breed of male shoppers who I will call “man a la moda”. I expect, high fashion will soon flood Instagram, immobilize the army of Instainfluencers to knead this “new type of voguish man”. Note to self, the streetstyle lover millennials were the exact consumer segment that pushed high fashion to bend its rules to lift the trend from streets into its runways (a.k.a skateboarding culture of Virgil Abloh) and painfully redefine its position between exclusivity and accessibility.

However, fashion houses are overlooking two major points – First, male millennials may liken to the idea of shopping along with their female buddies but they are not and will not be native “men a la mode”. By the time they go through psychological transformation, these engaging millennials will AGE out of target margin. It’s the next generation in line who is in capacity to be the native “man a la mode”. The second major point is related to the first one – if the next generation could be native voguish man – who are they? Do they relate to the outdoor inspired skateboarding culture? Are they Instaaddicted like their millenials predecessors?   

Here, I’ll refer to the first paragraph about dabbing and floss dancing – the characteristic moves or elements of the next generation in line that is growing up in a totally different reality. The humorous moves of this generation already charmed beyond millennials, the somber boomers to the point to be the signature move at Milan.  Before we know it, the z-gen and alpha generation, basically, dabbing and floss dancing school kids will make up a new consumer generation as they evolve into a whole new online culture that is alien to us that will mark the imminent change for fashion. The digital, online, click happy, above all indoor generation.

The increasing preference to stay “indoors” rather than go out to interact with the immediate outside world has seen the rise and reliance on online communities rather than a physical group of friends. This is the first sign of a potential shift in taste and consumer behavior. In these liquid times, what platforms does this generation turn to, to gather and create communities?

Apparently, these kids are too young to be on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Traditional platforms like TV, radio and print media can also be excluded as “relics of dinosaur age”. Ironically it’s clear then that YouTube and gaming platforms are where these kids socialize, build their communities and learn about the world.

This is the generation that will disrupt the tendencies and trends in streetwear styles as they will become obsolete in creating a new visual, stylistic and collective cultural identity. In its place youth culture will be influenced and shaped by online culture which will trickle down and be reflected in fashion and very different celebrity/influencer landscape.

Talking about the celebrity/influencer landscape – this is where soon major changes will start to take shape. The parallel reality that these kids have built is a whole new, agile and fast world that incorporates and builds on trending themes so effortlessly. Anything “trending” no matter in which platform gets integrated smoothly in a world dominated by three major players – Minecraft, Roblox and Minecraft gaming platforms.

What’s more is these platforms gave rise to a new type of idol– Youtube gamers, who record their gaming sessions and upload on their Youtube channels – these new sorts of stars range from some highly prolific gaming-turned musician Youtubers to strictly gaming Youtubers – from famously infamous Phewdiepie to Denise daily – gamefluencers. I am not judging the moral side of next generation growing up at the gaming platforms, just penning down my neutral observations.

This is not all – another type is the Youtube born musicians like Marshmellow and Alan Walker. I am not talking about numbers and stats – I am talking about their immense and decisive influence on rising pop culture. Musicians from my era– such as Shakira even Justin Bieber have millions of subscribers and views. But judging the taste and aspirations of z-gen and alpha kids, those numbers mean nothing. They are not the celebrities and stars that excite this new generation. These new sort of stars are quick to rise to stardom and will soon fight for the celebrity crown. What will make this fight harder for our Titan Instagram influencers is the flexibility and agility of new stars to pick on what is trending and incorporate or assimilate with ease to appeal to the interests and aspirations of the very tender and porous z and alpha generations. Evidently we are talking about another level of democratization. But just like in the case of Instagram – the early adopters will be a step ahead. Shall we get to see Minecraft, Roblox and Fortnite themes somehow make their way to the runways in Paris and Milan? What would be possible ways of collaboration with the new breed of celebrities and gamefluencers? What tactics high fashion would use to redefine its position between exclusivity and obsessions of the indoor culture? I am just curious.

This article was written in the summer of 2019 and deemed not correct or irrelevant by the fashion experts.

Mother Archetype VIII – Mom Hater

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I must confess, it’s extremely hard to concentrate these days. Sometimes I find myself poking around for hours on social media, which leaves me almost nauseated afterwards. Worst part, I can’t stop doing it. My hand reaches my phone secretly. I put it away, suddenly I find myself opening a new internet page on computer. It feels like a whirlwind. But determined, today will finish another post in the series of the Mother Archetype. The last category of daughters – the stubborn “mom-hater”.

“Mom hate” driven life

Yes, you heard it, this is the fourth category-the last of four that Jung identified. He labels this category as Resistance to the Mother or Extreme Negative Mother Complex. Mom hater knows what she doesn’t want. But is usually completely lost as to what she would choose as her own fate. She concentrates all her instincts on the mother in the form of resistance. Obviously, such resistance (or straightforward hate?) would usually take symbolic form. Such as her resistance to or complete indifference to anything that comes under the head of family, community, society, convention etc. The mother as material, “matter”, may be at the back of her impatience with objects, clumsy handling of tools and bad taste in clothes.

Highly intellectual, this type of woman creates an environment ruled by sharp reasoning, cool judgment and superior knowledge where mother’s instinctual power doesn’t have a room. Thus, anything dark, obscure and unclear in her own nature is frustrating for her. Enter her “hate” zone. And all the while the world and life pass by her like a dream—an annoying source of illusions, disappointments, and irritations. All of which are due solely to the fact that she cannot bring herself to look straight ahead. Her own nature is what she fights against the hardest. Yet, the clarity of her mind makes her indispensable in professional life and she can make a great advisor.

Private Life of Mom Hater

She rebels with every fiber of her being against everything that springs from natural soil. Simultaneously she gets dominated in negative form by what she runs away. All instinctive processes meet with unexpected difficulties. It can be sexuality does not function properly, or the children are unwanted, or maternal duties seem unbearable etc. Even resistance to the mother (as uterus) may manifest itself in menstrual disturbances, failure of conception, disgust of pregnancy, hemorrhages and excessive vomiting during pregnancy, miscarriages, etc.

Fate doesn’t stop surprising even more. Interestingly, she may end up picking a partner that has her mother’s traits. Such women tend to live a more meaningful life in the second half of their lives only if they manage to face and digest that hellish obscurity of “femininity” and “maternity”.

Read other posts of the series:
Mother Archetype I
Mother Archetype II – Son Lover of the Mother Goddess
Mother Archetype III – Don Juanism
Mother Archetype IV – Homosexuality and Impotence
Mother Archetype V – Exaggerated Maternal Instinct
Mother Archetype VI – Home-Wrecker With a Mission
Mother Archetype VII – Shadow Daughter
Mother Archetype IX – Part Human, Part Supernatural

Cover photo: Gerd Altmann, Pixabay.com

Mother Archetype VII – Shadow Daughter

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I can’t believe it has been over a month that I haven’t returned to this section. I had intended to finish up the Mother Archetype series this month. This makes me think, when the Mother, or any sort of manifestation of the Mother Archetype is in trouble, nothing matters. These four weeks have felt like a blink. The strong emotional turmoil left everything else in a dark shadow. Slowly, I am trying to pull myself together and finish up the series.

The last post was about the effects of the Mother Archetype on the daughters falling into the second category. Jung had labeled it as Overdevelopment of Eros. Now, the turn is for the third category.

Life in Shadow

Read other posts of the series:
Mother Archetype I
Mother Archetype II – Son Lover of the Mother Goddess
Mother Archetype III – Don Juanism
Mother Archetype IV – Homosexuality and Impotence
Mother Archetype V – Exaggerated Maternal Instinct
Mother Archetype VI – Home-Wrecker With a Mission
Mother Archetype VIII – Mom Hater
Mother Archetype IX – Part Human, Part Supernatural

Jung called this category “Identity with Mother”. Or simply shadow daughter. This type of woman associates herself totally with the mother and lives kind of shadow life. It paralyzes her feminine initiatives. Everything which reminds her of motherhood, responsibility, personal relationships, and erotic demands arouses feelings of inferiority and compels her to run away—to her mother, who lives to perfection. She clings to her mother in selfless devotion. At the same time unconsciously striving, almost against her will, to tyrannize over her. Personal relationship is torture for her as it robs her off the mother.

In sum, she is that passive, helpless female image that doesn’t know a thing, that suffering and injured innocent. The type that only “the true hero will rescue”. Such women are kind of empty container that will hold whatever is put into. So they will put up with whatever life puts on their plate. Their partner will mold them into whatever pleases him.

Behind Each Successful Man?

On the good side, if skilled, this type, happy with living a shadow life will project her virtues on her partner pushing him upwards. That’s why sometimes totally incapable men are in unfit positions and praised for qualities that do not have.

Read other posts of the series:
Mother Archetype I
Mother Archetype II – Son Lover of the Mother Goddess
Mother Archetype III – Don Juanism
Mother Archetype IV – Homosexuality and Impotence
Mother Archetype V – Exaggerated Maternal Instinct
Mother Archetype VI – Home-Wrecker With a Mission
Mother Archetype VIII – Mom Hater
Mother Archetype IX – Part Human, Part Supernatural

It’s In The Details – #PFW

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With so much uncertainty around, I’ve got bored with myself and decided to have some fun. So, I’ve gone thru the shows of the Paris Fashion Week (literally, all of the shows of the PFW and I need slice of cucumbers for my eyes now) and put together ten details that stayed with me. It wasn’t an easy task, I should say. On a good side, as a detail-oriented person, I normally tend to forget the big picture and focus on insignificant details. And I think it worked well this time. To me, PFW is the only fashion week when the designers unleash their fantasies. Always too many and too elaborate details to watch for. Below are just ten of the details that I super-filtered after marathon watching all of the shows.

10. Balmain

Shoulders! No need for more words.
Featured only partly here, but that biker suit combo is awesome too!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CF2TMgBg2Yr/

9. Giambattista Valli

I’ve laid my eyes on that hair detail…. and eyes too (also those disappeared eyebrows for that matter!) This is “Pretty” as it was called.

8. Andrew GN

You see that little fan-like accessory? Well, it is a fan. Do not be fooled by its innocent look. It can be more dangerous than a sword. Never joke with fan. Never EVER fool around with a woman that carries a fan!

7. Kenzo

Can you spot the detail? The major detail? Yes, right, that is what I mean. The must-have of 2020.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CF2iuFYli1U/

6. Anton Belinskiy

May there be light! ALWAYS!

5. Givenchy

Givenchy grew horns with Matthew Williams. Literally! Joke aside, I think, this one will hit it off despite mixed reviews by fashion journalists. As much as I loved Clare Waight Keller, I feel that this one will reach its consumer in target. Oh, almost forgot, Matthew Williams explains his collection as “it’s about finding humanity in luxury” – that made me think… about how luxury is perceived by non-consumers. And those horns didn’t look weird anymore.

4. Louis Viutton

Is it only me or someone else also gets old wooden Russian shoes vibe from these LV shoes? Seriously… Nicolas Ghesquiere, come on man, tell us…. (Wooden Russian shoes below for visual comparison).

These are the Russian wooden shoes I am talking about.

3. Vivienne Westwood

This list wouldn’t be complete without the audacious Vivienne, right? Ok, where shall we start? Maybe from those spooky earrings?

2. Beautiful People

This is almost everybody at some period this year. Just confess. Sum-up of 2020.

1. Schiaparelli

The winner of the PFW SS21 is doubtless Schiaparelli (to my humble opinon). All the modern day accessories in fantasy glam – let it be that kinda weird mask – the must have accessory of our days or the glasses that come with eyes. What a golden way to watch the world crumble down around us. And the eyes on that bag! I’d install camera behind them inside the bag!

Milan Fashion Week SS21: Thousand Faces of a Dream?

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I wonder whether the fashion has ever been really about fashion. I always thought of the fashion as the mirror of the spirit of its time. Yet, on the last day of the Milan Fashion Week, looking back the previous years, I think fashion means way more. It may also harbinger big social changes yet to occur. As close as three years ago, the runways were all about experimental deconstruction. To a point it was hard to understand what we feel about them. Now, in the midst of social, political, environmental crisis and debilitating pandemic, I, in retrospect, want to allow myself to believe that fashion or designers were heralding this perfect chaos. This crippling predicament that we’ve put out on the face of the world after seasoning it for some years inside the dark alleys of our mind.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFrfag2IHrs/

One may ask, what these thoughts have to do with this week of fashion? Now, going carefully over the shows, I see one major line, one dream. A theme that to my mind, have been replayed and brought to runways and our screens in a thousand different ways. Each house and brand, in its own way, played the idea of going back to roots, home and DNA – the guarantor of serenity and tranquility. In times of unprecedented discord and agitation to feel once again in charge of life to recharge and re-orient. To be able to be hopeful again.

Thousand shapes of one story

Although at first sight unlikely, each of these houses played the same theme in line with their core values. Maybe the most direct take came from Valentino by going back to Italy, its country of birth. Dolce & Gabbana revisited the patchwork tradition of its home, Siciliy with a grotesque set design. Etro, likewise, paid a tribute to its roots in a very Etro-ish colorful presentation. In total contrast to the splash of bright colors, Fendi had its models walk down dreamy, delicate white runway decorated with nostalgic yet kind of romantic white curtains… once again, in a tribute to its family traditions. Luisa Beccari, in a poetic way, dedicated the show to her own family. Holding tight to its DNA, the rule-breaker Missioni was home again. Probably the only house capable of elevating knitwear to high fashion and extending it into home and lifestyle, Missioni reversed seasons, revealing autumn-winter collection (to me, rightfully). Armani, who rose and shone with fabrics, went back to roots in his own way. We’d just witnessed a showcase of fabrics of almost ambrosial taste. Versace, born out of the instinctual lust and subterranean carnal desires was back in chthonic land of the Gorgons. Prada occupied itself with “a fundamental examination of the meaning of Prada”. Moschino outdid itself with its already viral doll show in quest of reinventing its DNA of playfulness. Even an emerging brand, Act-1, which is born out of bottomless doubts and identity crisis once more considered this dreadful theme against the staggering reality we live now.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFprTTwhmzZ/

More Earth Colors, More Flowers

What I am writing next may sound bizarre. Maybe it’s kind of bizarre. Fashion houses, regardless their story of inspiration, have seriously resorted to the Earth Colors. This palette, besides being a bare testimony of us painfully and slowly waking up to our prejudices, has a distinct meaning. Starting from the milkiest beige tone to the dark brown the earth colors symbolize the Earth, the mother earth, the mother, the safe harbor. Resorting to this color palette, to me, says a lot about our state of mind. To this train of thought we can easily add green color (Mother Nature), and flower details.  

When the drives behind manifestations are studied, really the pieces of the puzzle come together – the cry of our soul to feel safe again expressed in so many different ways and colors. The stories of inspiration revolved around what we long for – returning home, roots, family or brand DNA. To bath in the unfailing serenity and tranquility to recharge and re-orient.

Why suddenly the Earth Colors are staple colors of SS21?

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As we’ve made half way thru the Milan fashion week today, on the third day, I dim the light of my cell phone and make myself comfortable on the coach with a freshly brewed coffee to catch up with the shows that I didn’t get to watch during the day. Right, I enjoy night time “me” hour with coffee after the family members are gone to bed. By the way, I’ve finally learned to use my coffee machine as I avoid bars and coffee shops as much as I can. Sometimes I even dare to experiment with my coffee.

Cut to the chase, I keep clicking IGTVs one after another and at some point close my eyes to see what has remained with me so far – the total palette of earth colors flicker in front of my eyes. I feel like, wait a second, really, starting from milky white to dark brown – the earth colors (colori della terra) do make considerable part of all collections. Now, seeing this repetitive pattern takes my thoughts to another pattern that I’ve been observing. Albeit, more detectable than and not as subtle as this one – many stories of inspiration revolve around going back to roots, home, family and traditions.

I know it may sound bizarre what I am going to write next. The first question comes to mind is how one is related to the other. Yet, if someone ever wondered, here is one possibility of why and when we tend to turn to the earth colors (and how these two things are related).

Secret tone of the earth colors

We perceive earth colors in association with the Earth (as it is obvious from the name). The earth symbolizes home for us. Home is where we belong, safe harbor, our mother and ultimately defining feature of our identity. No wonder, when we go poetic about it, we call it ‘mother earth’. In a sense, the earth, (la terra) is the great mother, the container of life – from where we come, to where we return. Without making it more complicated let’s get to the point.

Now, when in difficulty, what is the first urge we feel? For most, the urge is to go back home, parent’s house, that small village where each piece of stone is so familiar to us, where tranquility reins and nothing seems to change. All too familiar, right? We long for that unfailing serenity. This basic formula has myriad ways of manifestation in our behavior.

Wish for homecoming in making

One is what, I dare to say, we’re observing on the runways now (oh, well, also on our screens too). In disquieting times like this, we involuntarily crave to back home, our safe place. The cacophony of the time we live in, political uncertainties, environmental crisis, social movements, the pandemic that has crippled the world make us look for a solid ground where we’ll feel safe again and feel in charge of our lives. Earth colors in all its shadows are manifestation of that need for comfort, serenity and certainty.

Yes, I love fashion for so aptly interpreting the cries of our souls and compensating the missing aspects of our lives through design.

I guess, by now, the correlation is quite clear between the earth colors and the stories of “going back home”. The colors and patterns D&G presented are very strong. Yet, the theme is revisiting the patchwork tradition of Sicily with a grotesque set design. Fendi, in sharp contrast to Dolce & Gabbana, dedicated the collection in delicate tones to family traditions. And my most favorite so far, with refined aesthetics Luisa Beccaria showcased family ties in the most poetic way possible.

Yes, just like that. To my humble opinion, the longer we have to endure hard times like this, the more we are going to see romantic, nostalgic, yet structured pieces and tranquilizing or solid dark colors running down the runway or coming to our screens. Especially, in fashion of the continental Europe. Unlike Anglo-Saxon fashion, which takes more of an outward stance, the fashion of the continental Europe is wish-making at work, especially, in hard times, to bring visual compensation for what is missing in our lives.

Mother Archetype VI – Home-wrecker with a mission

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The previous post was on overdose of the maternal instinct and this post will be about the other end of the spectrum. The “home wrecker” with wiped out maternal instinct who comes with a pre-destined mission. Jung labelled this type as Overdevelopment of Eros.

Woman falling into this category tends to overdevelop intellectual aspect and block maternal instincts in repulsion to the first type women. Remember that entirely instinctive, blind, love-wrapped, yet awfully dangerous hypertrophic mother type from the previous post? Yes, that one. Naturally such daughter develops deep admiration to father and idolizes him. The unconscious urge of this type of woman is to outdo the mother. How we call it now? – Daddy’s princess? Or mommy’s little rival at home?

Femme Fatale – anything but maternal instinct

Such mindset sets the background for quite some disastrous decisions and lifestyle choices. For example, series of romantic relationships and dramas with married men. It just gives them an opportunity to wreck a marriage (to apparently, outdo that rival at home). Once mission is completed, she moves on to the next victim. Apparently, no relationship should lead to where maternal instincts are involved – femme fatale with the touch of acute intellect – as we know it. They also tend to put an abnormal emphasis on the personality of others.

Here obviously, we talk about the extreme representations of the complex. As Jung highlights, none of the types exist in the purest form. The features of the dominating type often blends in many subtle shades of other types. Which in fact, could become enablers of transformation at certain phases of life.

Not your usual home-wrecker

Yet, on the positive side, such woman unconsciously reacts to men who are either strangled in an oppressive relationship or stifled with mother attachments. So she is kind of “rescuer of suffocating man”, if gone too far, a home-wrecker. So not all home-wreckers are made equal. Some have pre-destined mission of being a correction factor. That’s why, no matter where she comes in, she arouses moral conflict and disturbance. She represents the other side of the river. Yet, many times, along the process she becomes disturbed too if she awakens to her hidden purpose.

Most interestingly, according to Jung, her way to detach a man tangled in mother attachments (and complete that secret mission) passes through her own painful discovery and reconciliation with her once wiped out maternal instincts.

Stay tuned for the third type.

Read other posts of the series:
Mother Archetype I
Mother Archetype II – Son Lover of the Mother Goddess
Mother Archetype III – Don Juanism
Mother Archetype IV – Homosexuality and Impotence
Mother Archetype V – Exaggerated Maternal Instinct
Mother Archetype VII – Daughter in Shadow
Mother Archetype VIII – Mom Hater
Mother Archetype IX – Part Human, Part Supernatural
Mother Archetype X – Motherland
Mother Archetype XI – Teenage Crisis – Libido
Mother Archetype XII – Incest: Problem or Solution?