What we choose and how we wear clothes is a bit of give and take with regards to our personal communication. We demonstrate to others various states of our self, be it our status, our mood, and our professionalism. We use clothes as a tool to secure respect, to command attention, to catch the eye of another, and to seduce. We also inadvertently convey our state of mind and our sense of self. We convey our self-worth by the level of care in our attire, our pride in our physical state by the fit of our garments, and even the desire to be anonymous in the blandness of non-descript clothes that help us blend in to our environment.

At times it is deliberate while others become vestiges of our habits, ingrained in our routine without our even realizing it as we wear clothes that mirror our state of mind. Those who want the public to notice their bodies will tend to dress provocatively while those who hope you’ll ignore theirs will cover up in layers of shapeless garments in dull colours. It’s not the most pleasant example, but it is more likely that a sufferer of physical abuse fits this latter description, a profile many astute councilors will attest to. The source of this emotional state is completely understandable and sad, with the clothing very much reflecting this. It’s a way of coping, and our intimate relationship with clothing accentuates how we feel and who we are even in times when we are not as happy or even as hopeful as we would like to be.

Trends can also fit into this awareness by capitalizing on expected emotional positions and incorporating them into design aspects.  In times when our society feels threatened, we tend to hide in cocoons of fabric that wrap is in womb-like comfort. The late teens made famous by Poiret brought cocoon coats, a fitting comfort amidst times where turbulence was in sharp contrast to the technological advances and social transformations of the times.

The 50s saw more volume in swing coats and capes, an emotional shield to nurse the mind from the perceived woes of the new threats bandied about during the otherwise prosperous Eisenhower years after the public was shaken up by McCarthyism and H-bomb fears during the Cold war era. We then saw the return of cocooning in the 80s when nuclear threats re-emerged as tensions mounted in a showdown between world powers. Despite the creativity of that period, there was still the feeling of hiding in the safety of swaddling fabric. 

Amidst the volume play we saw some of this cocooning in some of the collections. For example,  Comme Des Garcons had some cocoon coats as well as caging and fencing surrounding come creations while Damir Doma and Nabil El-Nayal of Fashion Fringe had capes amongst their collections. Felipe Olivera Babtista draped ponchos on a few models while Rick Owens had a few tops that cocooned and almost verged on being cape-like.

That this was more present in European collections is interesting when looking at where the economic crisis is centering. This is a continent that could use some security beyond that of a blanket. But then again we can all use a bit of comforting, something that may take more than a few extra yards of fabric to achieve, and hopefully there will be something in the eventual resolution as governments rush furiously to find a way for us to go on another day by the time the next fashion season approaches.