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Fashion Observed


Trend observations with a sociological eye from afar...

by Darryl S. Warren  

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Feel Good

T  he borrowing of fashion concepts from past decades has been a long standing theme that goes beyond the phenomenon of 20th & 21st century fashion; this blog looks at the reasons behind them so you can understand what we are seeing that is on the runways today...like this persistent adherence to what we've done before.

For the retro inspiration that has been happening post 9/11, the roots are regression as a source of comfort. This is especially as the future we have been sold did not come with realities that we now live through. Be it political discord, fiscal instability, nebulous enemies of peace that threaten of safety, livelihood replacement via robotics and algorithms or security threats infiltrating the technology we have come to depend on, these pessimistic aspects were too much to handle after the shock that 9/11 brought as our global innocence was ripped apart.  

The first decade of the 21st century was marred by such events that propelled us to look backwards and retrace where we last felt good as a coping mechanism. It was so concise that the colour palettes reverted back to ones chosen several years earlier, and for many seasons followed the similar path as we seemed to retrace our steps slowly until we could come to a point where we could face our nightmares openly. From this, various decades as inspiration appeared at once, albeit in a more casual and accessible manner. The trucker hats, track suits, draped sparkly halter tops, boot-cut denim, thongs and printed/studded/appliqued items and flared edges shared space with normcore staples, minimalist wave basics and simplistic retro cuts from every postwar era were all blended to reach each and every person's comfort zone, and did so successfully to placate the widest audience seeking something that felt good. While distance and desensitization aided in our capacity to look forward (and embrace appropriately), more recent upsets ranging from economics to politics coupled with further advancements viewed that exacerbate current threats have pushed many of us back.

The current exploratory climate also involves multiple decades mashed together, albeit a more refined and artistic level based on the more optimistic reminiscence as we seek inspiration for new directions. As we get further entrenched in our "future", the fears that have resurfaced are finding a place in the current retro exploration, offering the same range as what the world is experiencing. That is, some are feeling the pain, and some are not. Some people are afraid, while some are seeing opportunity much in the same way as the last century hand-over when we transitioned from one way of life to another. Also, whereas we had resignation with more pedestrian or base-level expressions featured, this time around we seek a more sophisticated reminiscence that feeds our creative souls and sophisticated appreciations that came from fashion history. The intellectualism behind deconstruction, surrealism and experimental layering lend us towards a hand-held walk to the future, with that hand holding much that we found dear from before.

Our uncertainty that has found us straddling approaches (or rather those as we still explore what have had in order to create something new) will tell us where we are going next. When someone is referencing the 2000s, really they are forgetting that this decade referenced every decade before it that was thrown together before we started blending elements instead. But a few things are for sure: we are insecure and the past is what we cling to, and only time will tell when we will move beyond as we get comfortable with our brave new world. But at least we are trying.

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