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Fashion Observed


Trend observations with a sociological eye from afar...

by Darryl S. Warren  

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Move Me, Change Me

Fashion reacts to need. Sometimes the need is for a new aesthetic and sometimes the requirement is more pragmatic. Our fashion certainly reflects this accordingly. Textile use during austere times influenced design particularly in the 30s and 40s as the modern woman sought to remain fashionable while conserving her dollars. But there is more than one way to be ingenious for the sake of frugality and another aspect of design was born out of fiscal practicality.

Unlike our current climate of accessible fast fashion, centuries earlier were another matter entirely. Clothing was viewed by the masses as a necessity that required more investment in quality pieces and care needed to be taken to ensure they lasted. So garments that could perform double duty were seen as desirable.  Shepherds used to wear reversible jackets, with both a warming side and a cooling side integrated into the design. We of course see the limitations of reversible garments introduced form time to time, especially when those items wear close to the skin. Inevitable soiling for natural body sweat and oil inevitably render one side less useful and thus reversible garments don’t catch on as well, despite their continuous reintroduction into the marketplace.  But here is another approach that addresses the need to make dollars last.

As opposed to our life today, the average person prior to our modern industrial age did not have access to fast fashion and clothes were tended to carefully to last because replacing them was no easy task. One housewife in particular in 1827 (Hannah Montague) inadvertently introduced modular aspects into her husband’s garment in an effort to spare his shirts from further wear so she could localize cleaning and thus the detachable collar was born. This opened the door for future design ideas of which would tend to come when economy made the fuss of working one’s garment more acceptable.

Over time the modular aspect was revisited. In the 30s, where economy was on the minds of many, fashion futurists imagined modular clothing would be more integrated into our wardrobes and inadvertently gave our designers ideas to work with in their inventive speculation. Various inventors through the decades after then, such as Levi and Ioti, patented designs with modular aspects. Fashion heavyweights also incorporated modular design from time to time as well, especially as technology went hand in hand with searches to entice customers who had economics on their mind. During the mid to late 80s Mugler had some inventive removable panels form gowns, Issey Miyake had modular design aspects of  garments as well, and Gautier included removable sleeves held by ties (something he expanded in at the turn of the millennium although only did for one season). One designer named Sandra garret created a modular line called “Multpiles”, but fashion became more streamlined and this line could not make the transition, it’s cuts a vestige of the then -dated roomy looseness that characterized 80s.  

Modular design revisited during the economically tight 90s as well. An underground designer explored the approach to modular collections in New York City at a time where a lot of designers were making their presence, a design concept born out of frustration in watching past expensive purchases languishing, giving little dollar for wear as they were too identifiable to be worn more often (a problem with a lot of the specialized design ideas). As such, some designers started to incorporate more modular elements in their collections albeit in more limited amounts.  

As economics are a real concern now, fast fashion is looking more ecologically wasteful and a poor way to invest one’s dollars. To address the desire to offer continuous wardrobe stimulation modular fashion is making a return.

We see shoe designs containing modular aspects such as removable heels (Day2Night by Candice Leigh Cabe and Nadine Lubkowitz) or even removable heel and strap components (“Ze o Ze” by Israeli industrial designer Daniela Bekerman). Modular label Blessus was founded by a pair of designers—Michael Hekmat and Marta Matuszewska—and an economist, Marcin Korytowski, and features modular aspect on their line. Another designer with an ecological eye is Carrie Parry, whose “Mrs. Montague” line also filled with modular elements.

In the larger sphere, Phillip Lim had some modular aspects in reversible and zip off portions to some of his garments while Narcisso Rodriguez , who was around during the 90s in Manhattan when the modular concept was explored, featured reversible items and removable sleeves in his pre-fall collection.

The question isn’t whether we will see more modular aspects, but whether the fashion community will view them as attention-getting gimmicks versus the variety and practicality of maximizing dollar-per-wear. That and whether the public is willing to work, which is what modular clothing demands of the wearer. But the fact that it has emerged again in the more prominent arena of fashion means that designers recognize the public wants a good reason to spend money on fashion, and if that means offering better bang for one’s buck outside of a deluge of solids and classics that is already filling everyone’s closets, designers will pull out those tricks with the hope that the public will change their minds…to spend.

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