The Fall/Winter 2014 Couture Collections have come out this week, riding the crest of a wave of fashion saturation that started with 2015 Resort and Spring Summer 2015 Menswear filling schedules and calendars of every industry professional. As usual there is a lot to be learned about us if you’re willing to look past the pretty pictures.

There are things long mentioned in this blog that still hold true. Couture has evolved regarding its leadership in style trends. Given the easy access of fashion reporting thanks to the internet and the speed of prêt-a-porter, Haute Couture no longer calls the shots regarding silhouette and colour, but rather reflects the latest revealed trends that are established in the latest seasonal offerings. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t lead at ll, and that will be covered later in this article. Also long mentioned in this blog and mentioned more recently by The New York Times and Style.com is how fashion still takes reference from the past to go forward. Designers know that the general public can’t be thrown into the inevitable future but have to be gently immersed, so forms are still familiar. Also, when the future looks uncertain, the past becomes more alluring.

When September 11 happened, fashion saw a”reset” that pushed fashion back a decade, slowly replaying fashion from better times as it and we got the courage to eventually step up to its last innovation point; we had to have enough distance to be able to go to the last place of pain so we can attempt to move past it. The break was needed for us to examine and process, and the time also create enough distance where we could eventually get back some confidence that the future may not turn so abruptly as grim as it did that day. That we have recurring fears triggering our subconscious recollections of past pain in the face of more recent concerns, such as global economic reporting and recurring political strife in the Middle East, shows we are not yet over past emotionally destabilizing aspects. And so we still need our 20th century fix to address our needs to feel secure.

But the encouraging component is where we are brave enough to accept the parts of the future that offer promise. This comes in the form of our tech and couture, with its larger resources and the long-established permission to innovate with the latest techniques and materials, becomes the leader.

If fashion has found architecture as an influence, Chanel’s labs found a way to take that and introduce innovations in transforming concrete into wearable components into embellishments while Victor & Rolf used technology to explore ways to manipulate carpet into wearable couture garments. Hussein Chalayan's designs for Vionnet offered traditional silhouettes balanced with highly technical manipulation of materials and modern approaches to assembly. Others, such as Christian Dior and Armani Prive, distilled history to simpler, more streamlined form and used high tech incarnations of luxury textiles in their designs while Bouchra Jarrar decided to offer utilitarian modernity that prêt-a-porter gives, balanced with high tech luxe textiles.

Indeed, the others offered more traditional fare incorporating the latest technical applications to offer intricacies that handwork in the past could not provide. It shows how we will approach our transformation into the 21st century. It is rooted in the faith of our innovation and an area we deem favourable. as it is, unlike the more nebulous socially-dependant parts of mankind, within our control. And, when looking at our penchant to regulate public emotional expression (smile, everyone, and speak in an even, controlled tone) and where our celebratory focus lies (thin is still gloriifed as the preferred standard), if there is anything in our society we hold in high esteem, it is the capacity of control.