Schiaparelli

Last week on the couture runway we have seen the most creative headpieces so far – from the sublime veils to the most flamboyant masks of animals, flowers, you name. Actually, this is what has remained with me about this week – a parade of flashy headpieces and masks.

Even more interesting is the sky-high praises and affirmative reactions the luxury houses garnered for these obviously impractical pieces. In such a paradoxical moment the first thing comes to mind is “well, it is a couture week, no rules, no restrictions to the imagination”. Yes, let’s say that part is clear. But why so much positivity from the connoisseurs of fashion?

This article has originally appeared in Marie Claire Italia in Italian  as “I copricapi della Haute-Couture 2019 sono l’essenza dello sciamanesimo moderno?“

Sit close and I’ll give out a secret – no matter how far our imagination goes, it simply can’t go farther than what our mind can produce. Using flashy headpieces have certain power or we are wired to ascribe certain power to them. Let me give an example to make my point clear – who remembers the images of the primitive men from the history books, more precisely, the images of shaman? The shaman who wore bird masks, beaks and feathered wings to enter the trance. Surely, they were not getting ready for a couture runway then. What they meant was to take on a bird life so that their souls could get liberated and fly out of their bodies. And their tribe, including those shamans took this make-believe game seriously. They all were impressed and taken by the power of this ritual.

Read about the secretive nature of the veils here

Or when we are sad, we describe our life as dark and black, the same color we dress the angel of death in our imagination. It never comes in a colorful garment. When we are in love, we bloom flowers. All these metaphors seem so logical that we do not even bother to ask “how and why?” Yet there is no logical connection in such kind of associations.

The same thing is happening now. In a sense, those flamboyant pieces are just an exaggerated way of communicating our state of mind. The difference is that we’ve pushed the use of those exaggerated, extravagant headpieces to the runways only. But the reaction they stir inside us is still the same. In the depth of our mind we are not much different than our ancestors. We still use headwear, but in a more subtle manner. Just because we are more conscious of ourselves now. Yet we get overwhelmed and dazed by the power they exert on us. Just think about the headpiece of the Pope or of a judge. We haven’t changed much, have we?

That’s why rather than saying “it is a couture week, no limit to the imagination”, I’d say “it is a couture week, let’s have a blast with everything that our mind can fantasize”.

To sum up – now that we know the secret power of the headpieces, we know how to wear to impress. In the end, the life is runway and we are role-models of our own lives. Let’s jazz it up.

This article has originally appeared in Marie Claire Italia in Italian  as “I copricapi della Haute-Couture 2019 sono l’essenza dello sciamanesimo moderno?“

Read about the secretive nature of the veils here