Fashion Is Boring ... Have they Run Out of Ideas?

[Lena]

i havent followed this topic (yet) but i'd like to ask all participating to avoid tension when replying at tFS threads.

kindly state your opinions and leave 'emotional reactions' out of this,
we are just discussing fashion, lets do this in style
grazie

 

[Melisande]

Zazie, I appreciate your passion and inspiration. Thanks, and have a great vacation!

 

[faust]

Her latest acquisition - "this is Yohji" - is a white shirt with a densely pleated plume sewn to the front. The decorative shirt, though it looks papery and fragile, is a triumph of geometry and tailoring. Exquisitely fine origami comes to mind. Its price in Yohji Yamamoto's Tokyo boutique is 100,200 yen ($A1200).

F*CK, I wanted to buy that shirt so badly for Mrs. Faust, but I just couldn't afford it, even at 60% off . Why does Yohji have to be so expensive! Well, at least I had the right idea about a collector's piece

Thanks for the article, nqth!

 

[anhphan]

true say... fashion now is boring compared to the past three yrs.... before the clothes were more sexier and edgier b/c of the brazillian invasion.

 

[jenn]

i feel like we are sort of at a standstill - politically, economically, socially - things look kind of bleak and unsure. fashion is reflecting that right now.. lots of black (with twists of course), demure, etc - fashion has resorted to waht is safe - thats how people are feeling right now.

because fashion is a reflection of these things, it seems natural to me that it feels 'boring' right now - but of course will be 'revived' or take a turn for the worse depending on our political, economic, social climate

 

[faust]

i feel like we are sort of at a standstill - politically, economically, socially - things look kind of bleak and unsure. fashion is reflecting that right now.. lots of black (with twists of course), demure, etc - fashion has resorted to waht is safe - thats how people are feeling right now.

because fashion is a reflection of these things, it seems natural to me that it feels 'boring' right now - but of course will be 'revived' or take a turn for the worse depending on our political, economic, social climate

i can't understand when someone speaks in such generalities. can you elaborate?

 

[jenn]

i can't understand when someone speaks in such generalities. can you elaborate?

i can elaborate on what i meant... although the reply was meant to be somewhat general

for me at least, the future appears more uncertain than ever. signs that we are heading towards a deeper recession, oil prices surging, increasing catastrophes, etc. in the midst of this, the mood of fashion appears to follow the same path. covered up looks, return of neutral colors, the return to classic looks that have held appeal over time... it's a safe route - safe in preparation for what may lie ahead - during the interim until we feel more confident which direction things are heading (for better or for worse), then we will likely see an obvious shift in fashion. plus there's the possibility that people are just overly bombarded by fashion's changing trends (changing faster than ever before) and presence everywhere now (hence the boredom). it's hard to go into more detail than that b/c for every rule there are exceptions of course- and i veered off course a bit. but in general... that's how i see it. hope that makes sense

 

[faust]

i can elaborate on what i meant... although the reply was meant to be somewhat general

for me at least, the future appears more uncertain than ever. signs that we are heading towards a deeper recession, oil prices surging, increasing catastrophes, etc. in the midst of this, the mood of fashion appears to follow the same path. covered up looks, return of neutral colors, the return to classic looks that have held appeal over time... it's a safe route - safe in preparation for what may lie ahead - during the interim until we feel more confident which direction things are heading (for better or for worse), then we will likely see an obvious shift in fashion. plus there's the possibility that people are just overly bombarded by fashion's changing trends (changing faster than ever before) and presence everywhere now (hence the boredom). it's hard to go into more detail than that b/c for every rule there are exceptions of course- and i veered off course a bit. but in general... that's how i see it. hope that makes sense

It makes sense, although I have to say that I see an entirely different picture. First off, and I know it's a matter of subjective opinion, I think that the parallels between fashion and politics are GREATLY exaggerated. I think fashion media blows it up trying to give substance to where there isn't much. But, even if I take the view that it does, I see a completely opposite relationship today. Black is JUST coming back this season. Black was proclaimed dead when minimalism was proclaimed dead, and that was at the beginning of this Century. All I've seen mostly are happy-happy-la-la-land clothes, shallow moods, and ZERO price resistance despite drastic price increases coupled with worsening of political and economic conditions. It's not Yohji Yamamoto and Helmut Lang that have been hailed as most influential designers lately (hell, Helmut is out of business, and so is his black clothing), it's Galliano and Gualtier.

Maybe we are looking at very different scenarios, taking in only a part of the big picture?

 

[jenn]

yes...i think so, because i can see what you are saying as well...


a bit ot from the fashion 'industry' but:


the one unboring thing that i personally like about today's fashion is the increasing push towards DIY and constant mixing. I love that more and more people are incorporating their own individual touches to things and experimenting with more than one look at a time

 

[travolta]

here's a good article relevant to this discussion called --The Cage of Aesthetic Convention

http://www.core77.com/reactor/opinion_05.03.asp

 

[KasiaC]

Wait a sec...people are talking about different things here. Zazie and others are discussing clothes as a form of expression, others are discussing the fashion *industry*.

I agree with you, Zazie, totally. I just think the fashion **industry** is, like Faust says, in a sort of tiresome bubble. For better or for worse, it will eventually burst, hopefully leaving the best to survive, and then we will move forward.

For inspiration, I no longer look at magazines or even most boutiques except the really interesting ones, and focus on things that really move me: music, art, literature, nature. Fashion comes from within---not the market.

I think you nailed it right on the head. The fashion industry is becoming homogenous and monotonous and the bubble needs to be burst. Like anything else, the only way fashion is going to evolve is with new technology. I believe that if new things become developed (i.e. new type of fabrics) new things in fashion will develop that old technologies could not produce. It's only a matter of time. As well as, we need to take risks not the designers themselves but as well as the people who wear them. True style comes from with in not mimicking what the fashion media tells us to.

 

[Couture_Tribe]

I do not think you should grumble about that, fashion is a tedious topic on its own. It is just one or the other. Example: jeans + trousers, taper + flare, short + long hems, solid + prints, neon + pastels...... It is merely some recycled rubbish, a competition for uglyness, meant to become worse as time goes by. Fashion is also a reflection of life, it will eventually change when the society and human finally changes again. Thus, that does not usually happen too rapidly, season after season.

 

[aras]

I agree with Zamb and J'aime la mode. Is it just me or has fashion become pop cultures new wh*re? Every scene kid wants to be a designer... Even with all that said I dont think fashion has now become more boring you just have to know where to look.

 

[MUXU]

^yes...i think so too.

there are plenty of great designers out there that can really do some change to the clothes/fashion. but i think it also has a alot to do with the mass market and how most average joes and janes think. well..most of them dont want to wear anything too 'out there' or 'in there'. not enough people are taking risks...and being in a city like toronto is really wearing me down...im desperatly trying to get out of here.
i find that alot of the better quality magazines are doing their best to steer away from the very uniformed, mainstream look. but of course..alot of the mainstream fashion magazines still give the same old crap issue after issue.

i wonder when will we be seeing those vegan fibre fabrics on paris runway i saw it on fashion television that it can minmick silk, but wont turn out dry like nylon or rayon.

 

[Bel]

Fashion can NEVER be boring, my dears...it's the people who are becoming boring themselves, if they don't make the effort at being creative, experimental, expressive...

Agree. If you thing the stuff in stores is boring, make it yourself, find unknown stores and designers--blaming it on others is just lazy.

 

[Multitudes]

Yes! Fashion, as a classification, in itself is never boring to re-use Zazie, as long as we don't reduce it to general forms! Extract creative intensities or energies, not as abstract essence, but as event! If you find it boring, then it's not for you! No problem, then it's not your thing. Move on, take up another interest, take up pottery class or something! But for god sake keep moving! ...

 

[Squizree]

Like Saint Laurent said, style is eternal but fashion fades. Its only a matter of time before clothing gets boring to us, wether its now or later. But the style that we have in doing everyday things is eternal.

 

[cavanaugh]

i actually agree that fashion lately is boring...

i find myself reading my vogues & w magazines from 2004
(now that was a strong fashion year)

 

[Salvatore]

I agree. Fashion is boring me so much lately. There's no charged vibe! The best most recent years definitely have to be SS 2004, FW 2003, and SS 2001. Where's the vibrancy?

 

[Crakk]

I disagree. Fashion is always boring for those who cant afford it, or fit into the sizes, for those that can, there is always something fresh and exciting to buy.