From time to time music (new music in particular) can be an influential trend trigger. At times it is wholly responsible for initiating new style bearings while at other moments it arrives in synchronicity with other prompts, working together to awaken consciousness towards new directions of inspiration. Seeing the video from Lykke Li entitled “Get Some” late one night with it’s tribal styling and anthropological visual references interspersed only enhanced the expectation created by upcoming textile forecasts for SS2012 and the primitive detail that we are likely to see in some of the SS2012 collections. In fact, the tune has fashion impact; it has so far been utilized by
Many of the collections for FW2011 featured a plethora of pattern and detail (like Manish Arora, Balenciaga, or Bottega Veneta) to barrage senses into detail submission. As seasons evolve, continuous engagement of the consumer is necessary not only to maintain sales but to ensure longevity in brand loyalty.
Given that design houses all have access to similar resources, it is fair to say they will have relatively similar inspiration to refer to in order to maintain harmonious relevance in the marketplace. Emerging textile reports for SS2012 are reflecting the public’s need for escape, a holiday from the gravity of current events our evolved technology allows us to enjoy. There is also another potential influence, and that stems from collective awareness of fatality.
Media knows to profit from obsession of fear, especially the apocalyptic kind expected with 2012 as it feeds more primal inspiration for religious tenets that lend credence to current events as indicative of declarations such as the ominous phrase “end days”. The information overload provided by our maturing and increasingly accessible technology affords the pessimistic public more evidence of impending global disaster, working that ever-increasing portion of the public into a unified frenzy.
In recognizing impending mortality, it is only natural to reflect on how we got to “here”. Think of it as a group version of life flashing before one’s eyes. As uncertainty grows and expectations over an abrupt end to our society seem more credible, the society looks back, revisiting successes and transgressions in the process. Uncertain of what happens after December 21, 2012 is akin to sitting on a fence and not knowing whether we fall left or right. Do we end or is it a dawn of a new beginning? And if it is the end, how did we get to where we are? Where did it start?
We faced a similar situation at the end of 1999, an apocalyptic fear plausibly intensified when we realized our technology was not designed to take into consideration Y2K. It was a memorable New Year’s Eve as celebrants waited literally with baited breath, their palpable uncertainty creating eerie tension seconds before fireworks exploded on cue.
But unlike 1999, where the fear was based on something within our reason and control, the upcoming fear taps into more primal sources such as source material from ancient sources, such as religious text or archaeological discoveries from more mysterious sources, such as the Mayans and their calendar. It is the darker expectations that trigger self-reflection of our role as participant in the current state of affairs. It is the tribal sources that cause society to look back. And if there is increasing focus on this calendar from this extinct society as we question its validity, it would make sense that some of this focus will translate into upcoming summer fashion, such as by detail in weaving, beading and tribal pattern. It is a likely component as we look further back in anthropological nostalgia.
Looking back is easier than looking forward to the unknown, especially when so much fear has coloured expectations of our future. And as in January 2000, the collective sigh of relief will usher optimistic forward thinking and hopefully the chance to implement looking forward rather than back as influence in the creative process.