It’s funny that, a few weeks ago, this blog explored curves only to come around now to the dichotomy of this season’s fashion expression found in the contradictions. As one looks at the 2015 Resort collections, one notices the continuation of some of our longer-standing aspects that have remained, such as structure in textiles and angular hard cuts that emphasize a more masculine approach in the design. That some of it reminds of the 70s obsession in the 90s is not surprising.

In both decades women found their voice as they sought equality. If borrowing the liberating androgyny of the 20s merged with geometry set the stage for exploring sharing empowerment playfully in the 60s, the 70s took that geometry and hardened it into basic forms as the stiff a-lines took femininity and reduced it to a harder expression. The structured textiles there were the armour that eased women further into challenging the male-dominated landscape.

The 90s revisited this search for empowerment coupled with economic similarities and an interest in nostalgic camp. As well, women started asking where their equality went as reinvigorated interest in equal rights regained momentum in the face of realizations that hard-won gains had eroded. On top of that, the generation at this time had no connection with the 70s and thus this decade was fresh for exploration. Done in cleaner colours and natural fabrics, the clothes in conjunction with cyclical similarities supported the retro revisit.

And now that the 80s has been thoroughly worked through we are ripe for watching the design aesthetic swing again, hand in hand with the cues that accompany associations with established aesthetics of this revisited decade. Uncertainty returns with political turmoil threatening things like oil and its impact on world economies just as in the 70s along with such 2.0 versions of recurring issues such as: the re-examination of diversity and equality as seen in gay rights (now concerning marriage); fashion’s ongoing discussion of lack of diversity in the runways now spilling into revelations in the tech industry; and the surge of articles confronting inequities for women ranging from pay discrepancies and representation in the workforce challenging stereotypes on leadership.

So as we find ourselves in fighting form, our wardrobes reflect elements mixing old and new sharing similar expression in cut and textile quality. While there were quite a few lines expressing this hardness, some examples were see in the hard swinging cuts in the coats and vests at Balenciaga or the clean cut armour-like structure in the roomy a-line jacket at Narcisso Rodriguez; the clean white a-line top with crisp flares at Giambattista Valli; the stiff angular qualities in a coat and dress at ACNE and Veronique Branquinho or in some of the skirts at Fausto Puglisi, Peter Pilotto, Louis Vuitton and Gucci; the angular blocking on a few dresses at Zero + Maria Cornejo; the asymmetric angles topping a few dresses at Dior; the a-lines and swing merged with structure holding those angles at Fendi; the triangular gaps at Stella McCartney; the sharp angle separating the textile and texture variation in a dress at Thom Browne; the sharp a-line gauchos at Maiyet; and the angular sharpness by David Koma at Mugler.

Clean hard angles are akin to the visceral sterility we associate with our modern age in the face of what we have available at our fingertips, reflected in pop culture expressions that underscore the embrace with masculine influences to bring associations of alignment with empowerment in various forms. So, like in the video for “Digital Witness” by St. Vincent, we are unnerved and in sync with our cold modern defences, lifted this time by nostalgia as we relive our issues, replayed in our wardrobe to bring affinity to the battle that brings us again into the past as we try to move forward. Good times, people.