Fashion Symbols with Aynura Maye

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Paris Fashion Week, Autumn/Winter 2021 – #pfw, #aw21

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The Paris Fashion Week, Autumn/Winter 2021 is over and now it is time for my 10 picks. To tell the truth, it somehow seems to me, although weird at the beginning, the limitations have been played into opportunities by the major fashion folks. Yes, the conventional fashion shows do not exist. The crowd, glitter and liveliness are not there. But these unique times have unleashed imagination. Fashion shows that are turning into fashion films have taken communication of concept to a whole new level. Right, necessity is the mother of invention. And yes, I do still find myself tuning to the film, the message, the feeling with which the film was made. Instead of focusing on the pieces, my mind races to decipher the why. Why have the choice for film, for topic, for background fallen onto that certain choice. I should say, some films are simply amazing.

For the sake of fairness, using my own judgement, I’ll create 10 themes (again of films) and categorize the shows, pardon films based on these themes.

10. Enhanced functionality, or upside-down, inside-out

Beautiful people – Double End
https://www.instagram.com/p/CL_ikuQAqGN/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Rick Owens
Thom Browne
K I M H Ē K I M

9. Romantic, Elegant, Nostalgic

Elie Saab
Andrew GN
Chanel

I think, couple of words are due when it comes to certain maisons. I’ve watched over and over to this film and read carefully every word @Virginieviard has said about her inspiration. Also the song in the beginning – Do you know where you are going to? by Diana Ross. Yes, all is about this film. But also, it’s about she herself – to my humble opinion, which is very normal and natural. Her choice of venue, song and style – everything seemed to me her evolutionary attempts to cast the cocoon shaped around her by her predecessor. I may be wrong, but this was the vibe I was feeling and I loved the ski spirit, the contrast between outer wear and delicate pieces, very French look of models.

Danny Nguyen Couture

8. “Travel is luxury” – adopted from Balmain

Balmain
Loubutin
Miu-Miu

7. Unwearable grounded oooor domesticated

Paco Rabanne
Balmain
Altuzarra
Marine Serre
Nina Ricci
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CMCfHCNDJg1/

6. “Disturbing beauty” – adopted from Dior, but Dior is not in this category.

Yamamoto
Givenchy

A separate post is coming the Givenchy design and designer. Somehow I find it worrisome.

Koche
Kenneth Ize

5. Fo Eva Witty Extravaganza and Party

Schiaparelli
Lanvin
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CMJvbDUI0OE/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

4. Leaning on history and legacy to orient for future

Loewe
LV
Giambattista Valli

3. Cathartic

Dries Van Noten
Vivienne Westwood

2. All Consuming Wonderland – Fairy Tales and Cryptic Dances

Dior
Hermès

1. Champs of Sustainability

Chloé
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CL9O4s6CO1Y/
Marine Serre
Hermès

Fashion film, not fashion show any more – #MFW #AW21

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And my ten picks

Now that Milan Fashion Week Fall Winter 2021 is coming to an end, I’ll be consistent with the practices I’m trying to build and work out my 10 picks. To be honest, after so many months of disruption, I feel like there are oceans between me and the frivolous world of fashion.

During this period, with everything going platonically digital, sincerely, I find myself tuned more to the entertainment, theatrical side and immersive experience than to the collection. I wonder if there are people out there who can’t concentrate on old good catwalk like me? Catwalks were what I was looking forward to in the last season, but this sudden change of expectation I discover about myself makes me realize another thing. Maybe, much is said about it. Yet I am sharing my own thoughts as one should do on her own platform.

Apparently, something is happening that will never go away. Fashion design has gone beyond 2D presentation. Even after the pandemic is over (hopefully) and we resume our pretty flat two dimensional life, fashion design and presentation will never be two dimensional. The battle for fleeting attention of the global audience is growing more fierce. On top of product design, the designers now have to do in-depth study and experimentation to find new ways of three dimensional immersive experience. Right, experience is what fashion shows were about. But, there is some major difference – before presentations were constrained to the show venue as a backdrop. Now there is no such constraint. It is liberating in a way. Yet, now they have to create that all consuming, feel-real yet surreal digital backdrop that will not complement the collection and the concept, but enhance it. It seems like fashion shows are becoming short fashion films.

To sum up, I find it paradoxical, in the hey days of the fashion weeks I would kind of get horrified of the spending and vanity surrounded the shows. When there are so many living in dire conditions around the world and many kids lose their lives because of malnutrition, such extravaganza seemed superfluous and unjust to me. Now, with all this vanity existing only in the nonexistent dimension, I kind of find it beautiful and maybe even necessary.

I think, I’ve given enough explanation to declare why I’ve made my selection over total experience rather than collections only. It is true, I find the feminine yet resolute flare of Elisabetta Franchi enchanting. The chic, sharp yet flowing curves of Alberta Ferretti are simply beautiful. Yes, Armani as usual nailed it with fabulous fabrics. I have a feeling that Valentino’s designs, especially net outwear will become composed folk songs of the season. Especially, the tribute to the Piccolo Teatro, which holds so much emotional value for Milan and Italians is commendable. However, I’ll judge with foreign eyes, no emotional value attached, as purely fashion newbie from outside. This way around I’ll pick shows that were more than fashion show, were theatrical and immersive.

All that said, after religiously watching all of the shows, sometimes more than once, I’ve piled my list of ten fairly distributed between new names and established maisons. By the way, I find new designers more apt in this unfolding novelty and observe a more conceptual approach to immersive experience creation. Kudos.

Finally, let’s get into the names:

10. MM6 Maison Margiela

That inside out, upside down, reverse mood – each and every one of us, each and every day.

9. Francesca Liberatore

I do not know why she picked this theme. But her ascetic style made it even more powerful. War has been a deeply wounding experience personally to me about 27 years ago. It shaped my life, destiny and preconditioned many depressive cycles I’ve lived periodically. And it came back last year to my homeland after 27 years. Her collection simply talked to my heart.

8. Del Core

I am just in love with their magnificent images and conceptualism.

7. Vìen

Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot of real life stories about mental health issues of (particularly) teenagers, or the youth going through a prolonged puberty. Some stories are appalling. Rising cases of adolescence suicides, I think, it is high time that fashion starts conversation about it. For this matter, I see this collection very relevant and timely.

6. Act 1

Ok, I’ll be very honest, I can’t be indifferent to these guys. One of the duo is from my homeland. From the way he relates to the traditions (of which I am part of) and the delicate way he dismantles everything into pieces I can recognize his pain. I can feel his personal quest to rebuild himself through the deconstructed lines. And the shows they put out is sometimes blood freezing.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CLwRjQyo5kE/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

5. Human Poetics by Polimoda

Besides being a wonderful initiative, I found this film as a great culture guide to Firenze. The imaging is spectacular.

4. Philipp Plein

Well, simply, I think, it is that immersive fashion experience. My 11 year old didn’t like the film, he called it “cringe”. But I think it is just that “hate whatever mom likes” attitude of a pre-adolescent boy. Well, I liked it. So here it is in the list.

3. Dolce Gabbana

Besides everything else, this duo should be crowned as masters of music choice – that very single thing that I could have my son agree with me. The music of the last season was awesome too.

2. Versace

Maze is the answer to everything. It has so many layers of meaning that we better not even start to question. Well, it is in the DNA of Versace and the show was a magnificent reinterpretation of the Greca pattern. If we exclude the monochrome styles that confused me and I had to remind myself constantly that I am not watching a Fendi show, but a Versace show, it was a sophisticated show put together with high flying models. And those platforms too…. I mean, I hope they just stay inside that fantasy maze and not make their way into the stores. Please, Donatella…

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CMCT7zvDBZy/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

1. Moschino

I do not know how many times I’ve gone back to see this show. I mean, laugh and humor is what has kept us going through this period, really. And this show to me was a production of genius mind.

Hit the play for some humor and quality time if you haven’t watched it yet. Do not miss the il gran finale! Lumière! Musique!

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CL2RJEYCGEV/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Featured image: moschino.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.

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.

Act-N1 – Daring youth on the runway – Story told through the rhythm of fashion, flair, shapes and colors

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When I started to plan my first-ever visit to the Milan Fashion Week, I was especially careful about the first days of the week not to miss the show of Act-n1, which was on the official calendar. This novice brand is making its first strides in the complex avenues of fashion industry and this would be their second show. Its founders made headlines last year as emerging talents when they won “Who’s on next?” – a contest organized by Altaroma in collaboration with Vogue Talents. These two talented enthusiasts come from different and distant cultures to synthesize their cultural heritage, childhood memories and cherished values into a story told through the rhythm of fashion, flair, shapes and colors. Precisely, one is Galib Gassanoff, from my land, Azerbaijan and the other Luca Lin, from China. Who would think fusion of these two cultures would give birth to some real eye-stealing pieces? And it was not all.

Act-N1, RTW, Milan 2019
Photo: NowFashion

When I entered the show venue, in the usual pre-show confusion the first and most prominent thing in sight was mattresses stacked in piles in the central area of the venue. The thing that we like to keep covered, kind of out-of-sight in the most private part of our house under bed sheets and covers were out in display in stacks in the most central part of the venue. Whatever was supposed to be hidden was proudly out in display… My first thought was – ok, get ready for something real deconstructive. Let’s see.

Act-N1, RTW, Milan 2019

Soon the models started to walk along the aisle. Yes, there were lots of deconstructive nuances to the pieces like sweater sewn together with tulle, experimental combination and layers of unmatching fabrics and pieces, but also there were lots of pastel colors, refined textile and romantic details as if the designers attempted to sew together distant memories of childhood – both warm, heartwarming and cold, somehow shattering. The surprise was in the arrangement how the models made their way through the stacks of mattresses…. Sometimes they walked by and around, but sometimes they started to crawl, roll or walk over the mattresses. The way the young designers see how the problems and hurdles along the paths are tackled. This staging was intriguing. In fact, those scenes were among my Instagram stories that received the most mixed responses. In that moment one thinks – isn’t it the purpose of a beautiful show? To trigger mixed emotions and leave spectators in puzzle with mixed feelings?

Act-N1, RTW, backstage Milan 2019

Whoever is somehow related to the fashion industry, knows how hard to it is to enter and even harder to impress. Maybe it was because of their unafraid youthful dare, they managed to add this intriguing detail which well-established, reputable fashion houses might not dare to. Maybe this was the reason they achieved so much at such a young age. To me, this is exactly that small, secret ingredient in the nature of the new/youth that empowers it to dethrone the already settled “old conformism” which debilitates itself by undervaluing and looking down onto this visually small, fragile yet fast-growing youth that is full of potential.

When the show was over, I went to the backstage to greet them, obviously they were busy with models, taking photos etc. In sheer contrast of the preponderant show they put out there, they were very down-to-earth, somehow fragile, aspiring designers who visibly were making their path with hard work and dedication, just like the models making their way through, by, above and over the mattresses. It was simply emotional to be there and see that sparkle in the spirit of these young potentials.

The Italian version of this article is published at the Fashion News Magazine.

Striking similarities in the language of art and fashion

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Art and fashion have their wonderful ways to step in to say in a very crisp manner what the words are too shallow and too vague to utter. And even what I find astonishing is how different forms of art can translate and communicate shared feelings and sentiments in a strikingly similar fashion.

“Artfully” distracted and fragmented

Apollo in defragmentation, Marta Minujin. Photo: Instagram account of Marta Minujin

Let me get a bit specific. Before moving to Italy (when fashion was not really my area of interest), I was in Argentina mostly studying psychoanalysis and interested in many ways that art could communicate the most ineffable notions of our psyche. After moving to Italy, fashion became another fascination of mine in a way how it can be the mirror to the cold reality of our times and wishful hopes of our hearts. Since I moved to Italy three years ago, I can’t really differentiate between art and fashion. Not that I see the all pieces of garment as a piece of art. Yet I believe, each final product somehow says so much about the designer. Not about what the designer wanted to communicate, but what was really her/his state of mind, what she/he was living through or what was running thru her/his mind during the process.

Maison Margiela, Couture 2018. Creation of John Galliano to express defragmented, nomad mind. Photo: Internet

Sometimes, the similarities I see in ways art and fashion communicate shared human sentiments are striking. One of such similarities I’d like to talk about is between the art installations of Marta Minujin, an acclaimed Argentine artist and John Galliano, well-respected designer of Maison Margiela.

Little background information for those who do not know Marta Minujin. This flamboyant artist hails from Argentina and is the queen of pop art, performance art, “happenings” etc. She was a friend of Andy Warhol. I loved her free, deconstructive, mind provoking installations. Back in 2010, she explained her fractured monuments and statues as follows – we are so distracted, bombarded with lots of information in every given second, it is hard to pull ourselves together. This theme manifests our confused, defragmented state of mind, all over, never concentrated.

“Fashionably” decayed

As we lived along the collective concussion caused by the digital disruption more-less the same concept translated into the Couture pieces of John Galliano in his 2018 collection presented in Paris with strikingly similar designs – fragmented, layered, kind of all-over the place, nomad minds.

Marta Minujin against her own installation, Photo: Internet

A year passed. Came along another Couture week. Maison Margiela presented an outstanding presentation of “walking art pieces” translating decay, artifice, excess. Almost the same concept of some other installations by Marta Minujin – which I see as an expression of our current badly-functioning memory unable to forget (ditch), clean, organize and systematize. State of serious confusion.

Excess, decay in the creations of John Galliano, Maison Margiela, Couture 2019

Now I am looking at photos and still can’t get over how sharp the language of art and fashion could be in transmitting a message that the words are powerless to describe. Above all, how some shared sentiments can translate into strikingly similar visual messages by different forms of art.