The couture week is just over. Yet my Instagram feed overflows with all types of photos from the couture runway – blurry, well-defined, complete look, details– anything. Only today, after the fashion week is over I’ve realized what is common about the majority of these photos – they are mostly about the pieces of the conventional couture. A complete work of meticulous design and craftsmanship. And we have witnessed the unmistakable comeback of elegance and the determination of the “old-timers” to strike back the streetwear craze. What is not getting that much instacoverage is the theme that has been running quietly but steadily along the week – the destruction. What is more interesting is how this theme made up its way up to the couture runway – the parade of the delightful extravaganza of the year.
It makes one wonder what is happening? Is the conventional concept of couture slipping away even more? Are we redefining the nature of the couture craftsmanship? The overlayered and sometimes irrelevant pieces that walked down the runway sometimes blankly made no sense to me. And sometimes, it was the opposite – when you let go the initial prejudices, you see that this is the mirror reflection of our current state of mind – fragmented, detached, unaligned, lost and fast to forget – I apologize for my boldness. Really, the whole morning I’ve been contemplating about this…and I am inclined to reason it this way:
The pyramid upside-down
First came the influence from outside, then its repercussions inside the fashion. I mean, first came the change in the taste and trends with the technology and the millenials. There is no point in talking about this as it gets discussed every day. The pyramid is upside down on both fronts – with the technology the old, good days of “the elusive” is digitally gone – long ago. On top of it, the taste of the millennials has made the army of fashion designers to rethink the definition of beauty (and this includes calling the most ugly the most beautiful sometimes – again the ugly and the beautiful very relevant, I guess).
One shouldn’t be a psychologist to know that the years of youth are the times we all become self-destructive. We tear down all the barriers and restrictions that stand on our way of building our own identity. When there is no obvious barrier, our clothing is the one. With this peculiarity in mind, many established and establishing labels hit the road.
Art pieces on the runway
Now let’s see what happened inside – the repercussions of the outside influence. One thing is the influence coming from the outside, the other thing is how you wither it – you control it or lose it. This is the point I want to make. Whether you are on top of your designs or desperately lost in the flow. While writing this I can’t help making a metaphoric image in my mind where all the designers have found themselves flowing in the current that they do not know where it heads. Some have managed to keep their heads up and somehow control their positions. And the other category is lost, heads down flowing with the current with no sense of what will happen next.
That said, my impression of the deconstructive designs wasn’t univocal. My impression on certain pieces were that they were more than the intention to please the destructive taste of the millenials and the z-generation. They were a mirror to show how troubled and fragmented our mind has become. Did I find them beautiful? Esthetically, no. Did I find them fashionable? Maybe some pieces can be adapted or details maybe used. But, psychologically they were so relevant. I think an exhibition hall is a better place for those art pieces. But today the lines between the art and the fashion are getting so blurry, I do not even know if my thought is relevant at all. All in all, kudos to a fashion designer that has enough guts to evaluate, characterize and mirror his/her own time. It is a hard task and results should be rewarding.
Flowing with the current
But also, I’ve seen designs of destruction that do not seem to be either the mirror or the burst of the creative energy. It is counter-intuitive to talk against the romantic process of creation. But I can’t help imagining that other group of designers floating in the current heads down. In an ever increasing competition in the merciless world of fashion and in the situation where you never know what is beautiful, what is ugly, the stress of becoming successful most probably would cost some good deal of peace of mind to the designers. Especially the ones that are trying to get a voice in the Olympus, where the long-lived Titans have occupied the best spots. Some looks of the destructive fashion on the runway just emitted a silent cry of stressed out and desperate souls that lost the direction.
After all, we all are humans, learning to stop at the right moment is our life-time challenge. If a designer gives in and turns the internal sensors off, he/she kind of gets “blown away with the wind”. And it is so easy in the stressful world of fashion.
Yet, I think, sadly this is the way it is. Every new is born through destruction. The ones that will endure this period of destructive outburst, will shape the lines and shapes of the new concept of beauty.
