T o be seen as we are, not as we appear...this seems to be a subtle undercurrent of a lament of modern times. We have grown exhausted from the games that the past political scenarios have unleashed, and as we unwind the deception from various channels of our lives, we find the underlying self is what matters. And over this, a delicate whisper of what we dream still remains. Unlike a past Fashion Observed article ("Shaped Perceptions", November 18, 2018) that had the illusion with the reality underneath expressed as sheer forms in one shape over more solid forms underneath, we now have a return of transparency, albeit strategically placed (covered in the prior article just posted below).
We are ready for truth...the naked truth. We can architect a vision that will soon be our desire, but underneath we bring ourselves, real and in the flesh. Nothing is left to hide, and there no desire for anything less. We appreciate what is natural and whole, what is underneath it all. We ask for and seek the truth: authenticity; not the marketing version, but the actual tangible thing.
Fitting that we see this unabashed nakedness peek up in various collections. Actually, quite a few that were covered in the article regarding placement contained more revealing of the flesh, much the way we did in the latter 90s when we leaned to a more natural self as appreciated amidst the rise of the technical. Our humanity is what mattered, as it does now.
We approach our personal habitation in this world, recognizing that it is becoming increasingly plugged in and connected to the greater fabric of humanity. Our innovation jumps at solutions as fast as new problems are found resulting from past ones. We marvel at what is coming forth, barely aware that there is so much that goes beyond our immediate scope that we fail to have the necessary free time to absorb it all.
As such, we take time to appreciate what we have and are that we can absorb. We connect to share recognition that we have commonality amidst individuality, knowing how we are alone in our collective yet ultimately not as we share our experience and find kindred souls who validate our experience. We are aware. We are awake. We are present and naked before ourselves, the ugliness and the beauty all before us. And threaded by our hopes and dreams, our dreams like a schematic overlay, allowing our imaginations to populate while knowing those hopes are but a delicate framework of maybe. Fashion takes that mood and the aura it generates, and plays with the ethereal to do its best to convey this understanding in delicate beauty.
In 2020 Resort we see it from Madison Hislop (here); in 2020 Spring Summer we see it from Craig Green (here), Hypnographic (here) and Stefan Cooke (here); in Fall Winter 2019 Haute Couture from Iris van Herpen (here); and from offerings by design artists such as costumer Paul Borges (here) and Iris van Herpen alum Stephanie Santos (here). Delicate and gentle is the play with fine threads to create imagined form while leaving reality underneath to simply be. No deception or pretension is underneath. Everything is, as already said, honest and free to be.
It's not a huge current in fashion so far, although the rest of SS2020 has yet to be fully unveiled and the distressing that brings in more threads as accents is being noted. Enough...or the lack of...um....coverage in particular we do see is enough to warrant paying attention to. It shows in what has been seen so far that the fine lines of desire bring form to dreams, and isn't that what makes fashion magical?