W e have nothing but ourselves to blame when the phrase "fake news" rears its ugly head in the story of the day. We have allowed this to permeate in society for as long as gossip magazines and tabloids have been upon us. We continued the embrace with "reality" entertainment, and, worse, we have turned a blind eye for the longest time where fashion airbrushed ourselves into shame and envy in the name of less noble motivations.

We seem to accept the duality of our nature where there is the truth and them there is the "truth". We almost coach ourselves and others as we simultaneously reprimand all involved for exercising the most common action we have within ourselves: our ability to deceive. Often we admonish the art of deception itself but every once in a while our corporate and entertainment world celebrates the ingenuity of the newest form of deceit, or such as the more recent shift in academic cheating. We have so much to learn about ourselves, don't we? Fortunately, the interpretive eye of art and artists, and of creatives and design minds manage to help us along by holding the mirror of ourselves up towards us, and it is the mirror that can inform us greatly if we allow ourselves to give ourselves an honest look.

So, among the many creative aspects of fashion, one in particular was intriguing, and it involved the clever use use of sheer in the most recent collections during Spring Summer 2019. In the past, organza and chiffon has been used to tease, playing peek-a-boo with sections of ourselves. It has also been peppered with pattern and texture to obscure and diffuse, and layered to create depth as it clouds. This season some of what has been noticed is regarding a perfect symbolism of our fake news world, a sort-of physical representation of the truth and the "truth". In this case, it's shapes denoting one silhouette over another beneath. One allows a form of expression while beneath we have another point of view. Or, sometimes it was one overall shape over another of a different cut. Again, one perspective over another; a "truth" over the truth.

This was noticed in various degrees in collections as well as from lesser known creatives of all ranges. This includes Chalayan (example here), Flora Miranda (here), Luar (here and here), Marchesa (here), Matty Bovan (here), fledgling costume artist Molza (here), Paule Ka (here, here and here), Parsons graduate Rhi Zhou (here) and Toni Maticevski (here).

In each example, it was interesting to see how conflicting forms were brought together, like a composite of before and after shots layered so we can see the changes. That is how we are seeing our world at large these days as we get the "truth" and find a follow-up of the truth in a race to keep us informed. In fashion it provides interest while, in the real world, this provides confusion, and each execution reaching the desired objective, although the former inspires while the latter manipulates, but that interpretation is up to us to take away from. Just as in real life, when you think about it.

As Pre-Fall 2019 comes around, it will be interesting to see what else as far as our collective habits, actions, opinions and perspectives get noticed and translated into material form. That is something that remains to be seen and is, for this blog, much anticipated to realize and share with you.