Fashion is superficial, but maybe it shouldn’t be so superficial.
Many people believe that the way they dress expresses their unique personality, but in fact, they are only highly in line with the sales needs and brand positioning of the capitalist fashion system. "
This passage comes from Enlightenment of Fashion. The authors of the book, Agnes Rocamora and Annike Mo Like, hit the nail on the head-her views are not new, but they are indeed in line with reality.
Like many things that look beautiful, the fashion industry seems to have made great strides in recent years and penetrated into the lives of most ordinary people, but this may not be the case. (Photo/vision china)
People are not only easy to get lost at crossroads, but also easy to lose their eyes in the process of pursuing fashion. Looking around, the elements of the trend are so crowded and similar. If the whole fashion industry had trampled presbyopia on the soles of their feet yesterday and thought it was a pedantic aristocratic class or a blind choice of the nouveau riche, presbyopia would have regained its crown overnight and become a symbol of elegance and eternity.
So, what are people chasing after?
Marx believes that fashion will become a symbol of a person’s social status whether it is artificial or not, and this symbolic meaning can be a means to create social identity and impression, and it can also "make people find their place in society".
Marx believes that fashion will become a symbol of a person’s social status whether it is artificial or not. /Figure ·unsplash
This thinker from Germany once lamented the importance of a coat to his academic research, and even played a decisive role. Otherwise, Das Kapital would be out of our reach. After all, "the reading room of the British Library is not accessible to anyone in a bad street, but a man without a coat is here".
Elegance is out of date.
Christian dior wrote in his notes: "Without elegance, women are left to blindly pursue fashion."
Now, elegance is not so important, it is just the core of the old world fashion circle. Nowadays, people put a lot of out-of-date fashion goods on their bodies and declare their taste with a bunch of repeated letters. When the navel dress is popular, it is hard not to see the belly button on the street; When the over-the-knee boots were hot, the knees disappeared without a trace.
Christian dior wrote in his notes: "Without elegance, women are left to blindly pursue fashion." /Figure ·unsplash
Like many things that look beautiful, the fashion industry seems to have made great strides in recent years and penetrated into the lives of most ordinary people, but this may not be the case.
Nada van den Berg, author of The Power of Fashion, believes that the last decade or more is a period when the fashion circle has become mediocre. On the one hand, some talented designers have died, some have lived in seclusion, some are at a low ebb, and some are hard to achieve much; On the other hand, due to the role of social media, a group of street designers with basically no connotation went out overnight.
This part of the designers intercepted individual factors in the master’s works and amplified them, which gave birth to a batch of explosions and directly affected the high-end fashion brands that were known for their classics and elegance in the past.
October 5, 2021, Paris, France, Paris Fashion Week 2022, Louis Vuitton brand show. (Photo/vision china)
Nada said that this phenomenon reached its climax with Virgil Abloh, the designer of Off-White, as the design director of men’s wear at Louis Vuitton, which caused great controversy. Although Virgil has passed away now, his influence on fashion is extremely profound, and it is hard to say whether this influence is good or bad.
For a long time, Virgil’s design ability has been questioned in the industry, and many designers who are trained in the class disdain him. Some people prefer to call him a "genius marketer" because he knows the aesthetics and needs of the public so well that he gives up an important principle as an artist, that is, leading.
In recent years, the fashion industry seems to have made great strides and penetrated into the lives of most ordinary people. /Figure ·unsplash
Obviously, Virgil chose to cater to the public, which also made Off-White one of the most famous street brands in the world. Along with it, there are also trend brands Vetements and Yeezy, three street brand giants, which have triggered many "earthquakes" in the fashion circle.
Before this, luxury brands and street trend brands were incompatible, but now, luxury goods have become "unrecognizable", and they no longer act as the leaders of ideological trends, but began to pursue these street brands. When Louis Vuitton chose a street brand founder to guide men’s clothing around the world, the trend of grassroots counterattack was revealed.
Virgil’s design concept was also questioned. In the speech of Harvard University School of Design in October 2017, Virgil talked about his secret of success: "Change the classic design by 3% and it will become my work." In fact, the "3 Percent Approach" is Virgil’s most important design guiding principle.
In the past, luxury brands and street fashion brands were incompatible, but now, luxury goods have become "unrecognizable". /Figure ·unsplash
On his design list, plagiarism has become a major factor, and he has been deeply involved in plagiarism for many times. The cooperative chair with IKEA looks like twins with the classic chair designed by American designer Paul McCobb; Virgil’s shoes designed for Louis Vuitton look like Air Jordan’s own son. In its Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2020 collection, it is difficult for people with good eyesight to tell the difference between the metal logo-linked blouse and the spring/summer women’s dress released by YSL” 2008 except that one letter is LV and the other letter is YSL.
In a broader sense, the current fashion is dominated by designers like Virgil. In them, fashion is short and perishable, and the transmission of symbols is vividly displayed.
Nada is obviously disappointed with this. She believes that by constantly creating explosions-although this partly reflects some characteristics of this era, the design without connotation will continue to repeat the story of popularity and disappearance, which will only kill their barren design concept and eventually lead to nothingness in the whole fashion industry.
Nada believes that by constantly creating explosions, it will eventually lead to the nothingness of the entire fashion industry. /Figure ·unsplash
Numéro’s reporter once asked karl lagerfeld which of Virgil, Jacquemus (founder of the eponymous fashion brand) and Jonathan Anderson (fashion director of Luo Yiwei) would choose to spend the time with him in the desert island. Lagerfeld’s answer is-I’d rather commit suicide.
Lagerfeld’s answer undoubtedly added a trace of sadness to the fashion circle of this era. Nada believes that we need talented designers like Rei Kawakubo, McQueen and Yves Saint-Laurent to create a new paradigm.
In the 1970s and 1990s, there were many masters in fashion. Under the background of social thoughts, philosophical thoughts and drastic political and economic changes, the fashion circle as a part of the cultural framework is full of stars. Those clothes that create a paradigm will never play with letters like today’s fashion clothes, or play some boring erotic edge balls, and there will be no terrible sight of thousands of clothes. At that time, it was the time to create masters of art, and now, it is the time to create marketing guru.
The 1970s and 1990s were the times to create masters of art, but now, it is the times to create marketing guru. /Figure ·unsplash
Supreme created money empire with seven letters and a red background, and artists rushed into the gold mine of street brands one after another. Together with online celebrity, stars, designers and crazy consumers, they created a consumption myth with endless co-branded money-this is Virgil’s favorite, and his nickname is "co-branded madman". When black and white stripes (Off-White signs) appear on Rimowa suitcase, this suitcase is not just Rimowa, and the extra money spent by consumers is used for the factory to buy black and white paint.
From bottom to top
Fashion is superficial, but maybe it shouldn’t be so superficial.
For more than a century, top-down has been corrected to bottom-up, that is, the more civilian, grassroots and street things are, the better. Of course, things in the upper class are good, but it’s best not to say them, which goes against the so-called political correctness law all over the world.
May 17th, 2021, Beijing, 2021 China International University Fashion Week, works exhibition of Beijing Union University Art College. (Photo/vision china)
But are street and civilian things really the best? What we need to distinguish is whether its goodness comes from itself or from our paranoia. On the other hand, nowadays, all the fashion brands have become identical multiple brothers, from the outline, color matching, letter arrangement to the selling price figures. What is the problem? This situation has also affected luxury brands. Compared with the past, the differences between Louis Vuitton, YSL and Gucci have narrowed dramatically.
All these phenomena point out that the cultural attribute of fashion is collapsing.
Today, the public is undoubtedly the aesthetic leader, designers cater to them, and capital is more open to the public’s preferences. But we have to understand that the aesthetic standard of the public is always based on another public. This kind of nature of being keen on convergence doesn’t even need a brain. People will brainwash themselves. If he wears it, she wears it, and they are all wearing it, then this thing must be good. But when the industry caters to this trend, the result is that the fashion circle may really need to be saved.
