Just as there are many influences in our cultural environments, there are many of these reflected in the collections that come out each season. Designers and their teams collaborate to take that cumulative examination of key points of inspiration and translate it into anticipation of a vision that their client base can identify with. The internationalization of the market place has allowed the broadening of inclusion so that many points of view serve to blend into the multiple aspects we see in designs.

Some of the larger aspects, such as the structured textiles, represent general sentiments shared internationally. Here, these more general moods represented provide the foundations that transcend borders the way that a drop waist or a flared skirt becomes a hallmark of the decade rather than a marker of a more targeted cultural source point, such as a Fair Isle sweater that reflects the values from Scotland.

But as our world‘s more recognizable designers cater to an international market, they have the blend of influences that cover the various levels of influence. When looking at trends, the room for variation within foundation constraints allows for several aspects at play. This blog serves to illustrate the many points of view as a result.

This blog itself is representative of the mindset of a segment of the population that seeks deeper answers from what is around them. The anthropological examination has caught on in fashion as we become aware of the passing of time as we get settled into a new century as differences between centuries becomes more readily apparent as our technology creates a world that less and less resembles the world we once knew even a mere decade before.

Fashion psychology is also gaining popularity as we seek meaning behind the mundane things we have around us. We seek meaning in our expressions, both from the obvious and overt to the more subconscious origins that require further contemplation. As we now have broad awareness of things around us, we turn inward, looking to understand better who we are and how it connects with and influences the world around us.

Somewhere in the 1920s our last century ushered in the Surrealists who looked at the unchained mind to resolve the unconscious with the conscious. It blended art with the political, and gave rise to this internal examination that we were willing to undertake. In the face of changes in the face of technological leaps back then, the world also sought to understand itself to cope with change.

Art reflected this, illustrating distortion and merging of incongruences that our mind in dream state allowed without restriction. The absurd was allowed to be, to allow our mind to grow. Now, we face a similar condition where the understanding of our world requires us to allow distortion of convention so we may be able to see things in a new light. Many of the collections are playing with proportion play and asymmetry, celebrating the unconventional as we explore a new way to be, similar to when asymmetry was well embraced in the 80s during our first major international awareness as technology awakened our minds to the happenings of the world at large and technology started to zoom forward.  

There were other aspects that honored a Surrealist bent. Some collections, such as from Creatures of the Wind, Kenzo, MQ by McQueen, Nina Ricci, and Opening Ceremony had a few items with patterns twisted, blurred, melted and distorted. Others, such as Christian Dior, had a few images honoring the absurdist aspect of Surrealism itself. Stella McCartney’s had a few drawn images that reminded of Jean Cocteau’s automatic drawings, while collections from Osman and Tsumori Chisato chose to incorporate trompe l’oeil into their designs a la Schiaparelli (known for her collaborations with Surrealist Salvadore Dali).

The distortion may be as reactionary as it is provocative. It serves to remind us that we our unsettled in our mind as we long to make sense of it all. We live in a very complicated world with more changes coming at a faster pace than mankind has ever experienced. We may be moving along seemingly accepting and calm on the surface, but our subconscious tells a different tale. As control and conformity are valued and as we decry our isolation in spite of being connected, we may need to look within on many levels to help us get ready. Eventually, if we want to be healthy, we need to have dialogue. Thinking about what to talk about is a good first step and maybe letting in a little disturbance to look at might get us to start.