A s you recall, we were about to continue the technical details regarding the Spring Summer 2017 collections and how what was noticed reflects our current mindset. But before continuing that, Fashion Observed wishes to take time this week to segue on a broader trend direction that asserted itself quite noticeably this season.

Part of fashion's job is to inspire. Changes and fresh directions fuel interest that hopes to translate into involvement (i.e. purchases). If the trends are too new or too lofty then they fail to engage a customer to participate. If the trends are too familiar, they may bore the audience and, again, they will fail to participate. Having multiple trends intermeshed in the collections has the capacity to cover these risks. So, when the 90s was rebooted years ago, the normcore and minimalism trends that came about were embraced as something accessible and relatable that encouraged participation. And it did. But these things can't be perpetual. Eventually, the closets gets filled with a saturation of the said items and there is no reason to replenish. You don't want that; this is how designers shot themselves in the foot in the 90s when too many headed in the same wearable direction in the name of survival after being too different and unique in the decade before. The result was a thinning of the herd where only the strongest survived.

Now, we are seeing similar problems. A market that is supersaturated, offering much of the same in relation to their competition that has been a repetition of retro influences for far too long: the 70s. While the elements in that era are mirrored well today as justification for the reboot, too much of a good thing will only create the same climate that did damage to labels before. ​

it is true that the online offerings of "Westworld" and Baz Luhrmann's "The Get Down" bring the cultural root similarities connecting relevance between these stories and our world today to inspire repetition in the fashion markets (we will cover why in another article). But these inspirations hinge on well-worn trends that may not fly if they mirror what has been in the markets too long already.

There are other elements intermixing that suggest our moving away from nostalgia as we redirect ourselves towards the present and the future. In this case we look towards the international language of modernity in the form of geometry. 

​The simplicity of stripes reflects much that we choices today. There are defined positions reflected as extreme contrasts between dark and light. The bold colours are strong and energetic. The overall translation is specific positions on matters that connect to us. We are not wishy-washy; we know what we want and who we are. High contrast stripes reflect this with precision and high order that we choose to embrace as an antidote to the times today. Assertions of our positions and opinions are spurred by politics and current events that we cannot ignore. Like the bold colours, these things in our world demand our attention fully.

Many collections from all major cities have this trend. They do not lie. The question begs: once we assert who we are and what we want, what is next? Think about that as we cover other matters next time.