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.
