The roll-out of 2014 Pre-fall collections are starting to gain steam as the holidays emerge. If you are hoping for groundbreaking designs so far, you may have to dial down your expectations to a degree, if only because the clothes designed are for living with the bottom line in mind.
On the whole it seems more utilitarian and that is to be expected; this is a “season” that serves a dual purpose of having essentials available at a time they are likely to be purchased and worn now plus a testing ground for rolling out hints of what is to come when Fall/Winter comes out a few months later. The wearablility comes across strongly in the more classic framework of the clothes with many falling into very utilitarian lines (Clover Canyon, Leila Rose, Reed Krakoff, Sonia by Sonia Rykiel, Veronica Beard) and 90s modernity (Adam Lippes, Akris, Altuzarra, Belstaff, Burberry Prorsum, Fendi, Rag & Bone, Reed Krakoff, Sonia by Sonia Rykiel, Tory Burch) hasn’t really left since the decade first emerged. The clean sensibility and practical overtones that put money in the bank for Helmut Lang serves a buying public that wants to be current yet hesitates to venture too far with clothes that are so unique as to limit dollar/wear.
The creativity is in the details, of course. The materials hover between the comfort we ask our clothes to provide, swaddling us in slouch (Alexander Wang, Calvin Klein Collection, Sachin + Babi, Thakoon Addition) and layers and the armour when comfort isn’t enough in the form of structure (3.1 Phillip Lim， Adam Lippes, Altuzarra, Proenza Schouler, Zac Posen). This consistent oscillation has been underway for a few seasons; the materials are the language of our feelings and reflect our need from a reactive place as unpredictability that tempers with our sense of security is met with less zeal. The colours show our energy (Diane von Furstenburg, Just Cavali) as still strong and vivid, with print reflecting our hardness and our increased attention on our tech world (3.1 Phillip Lim). Meanwhile, with regards to cut, we continue to look to our environment for relatable inspiration of how we fit in our world. Art can carry our imagination, but the architecture is what we can more readily identify with, and the sweeping architectural swaths of textile, dramatic hard cuts plus use of sheer insets and clever slices (Altuzarra, T by Alexander Wang) or revealing vents (3.1 Phillip Lim ) to bring a nod towards dimension that we find ourselves more fixated on as our news talks more and more about everything 3D. Here, designers continue to incorporate this in varying approaches, with each season finding new aspects of dimension to explore beyond texture and embellishment play.
The acknowledgement of our order possibly coming undone isn’t escaping our media, and as such elements of a more polished deconstructive expression come into play (3.1 Phillip Lim, Alexander Wang, Belstaff, Calvin Klein Collection, Sachin + Babi, T by Alexander Wang). It will be interesting to see how many designers are tapping into this awareness that good PR can no longer mask.
All this is under an umbrella of recognizable and wearable cuts and shapes. In a way, this is much like what is happening today; to glance at the surface at what is occurring in our world seems like business is usual, but further examination of the details reveals a deeper story with a way more complex undercurrent that will shape us and our eventual future, much of it that may require more stamina than we choose to devote for now. Much of what is happening is the world is packaged with our tolerance in mind so that we as a society can carry on as if everything is status quo. It’s the most we can ask of us for now until we are ready to accept the inescapable and inevitable change that is our future. At the very least, it’s just enough.