T he Italian Spring Summer 2016 collections have come and gone and will be mentioned in the near future, for they too have shown the emerging security of exploration as we edge further into our new century. Now, the focus is on Paris, known traditionally as the platform of creativity.

As our technology breaks down the walls of compartmentalization, we find that other designers in various places are not letting location stop them from vying for our attention. Some are playing with a change of locale to gain footholds and exposure in different markets (such as what KTZ did in a previous season or what Givenchy or The Row did this one), while others are testing other locations to take advantage of less competition to access better attention in our global net world (such as by Damir Doma in Milan).

We are testing our limits, exploring new areas, new methods, new materials and new techniques. We do so as we have little to lose, seeing the possibilities and the tenuousness of these simultaneously as we brave efforts. We feel the hope and the fear and do it anyway. It is the intimacy of personal chance that we are taking in the quest for authenticity.

Just as in the late 80s, we let loose on creativity as we took chances to break new ground. We knew the economy couldn't survive the credit bubble it was built on. But to inspire those to participate in the continued creative explosion fueled new ideas. Although the issue is not in similar foundations, the unease is back again rooted in familiar fears, so we can hold onto fear or we can push ahead; fashion has decided, like us, on the latter.The freedom of "going for broke" is how Alexander Wang expressed it as he made his last collection for Balenciaga. It was noted by Vogue Runway as the best he put out if only because he felt he had nothing to lose. And so, just as in the 80s when we unleashed ourselves we find again breaking new ground because...well...what do we have to lose? Such was a similar sentiment with Hussein Chalayan as he gave commentary on his Cuba-themed collection and the collaboration with his show's sponsor, Swarovski with plain paper dresses melting into glamour mid-show as they met a rush of water from shower heads above (along with his self-admitted amusement of the occasional model slipping on the water or the lost heel of those fabulous cylindrical-heeled shoes).

And so, in the Paris collections...and, really, of the globe's more progressive collections this season so far...the ease of slouch and drape is met with the freedom to create in the mix of deconstruction and architecture, upholding and upending structure. The play of assembly, layering and form is the personal risk, the go-for-broke approach, the fearless ascent we take because the future waits for no one and to be part of history requires to participate in its incarnation, even if it means some retreading as part of the process.