Is fashion too fickle?
(Filed: 05/10/2005)
Last week Tom Ford, the former Gucci designer, attacked the fashion industry, saying that rapid introduction of new trends is leaving consumers confused and putting them off buying clothes - but is he right?
Yes, says Clare Coulson - the speed of change is getting out of control
What will you be this winter? A scowling goth in a floor-sweeping black skirt and high-necked Edwardian shirt? A mini-skirted Mod with kohl-framed eyes and kinky boots? Or a Hitchcock heroine with blood-red lips, p*ssy-bow blouse and a body-hugging pencil skirt?
The reality is that you probably won't be any of the above because while the fashion industry creates a dizzying, unrelenting flurry of trends, most of us are wearing the same thing year in, year out.
Tom Ford's recent assertion that fashion now moves too fast sounds like the dismissive words of a man who has made his mark (and his money) and moved on to pastures new (in his case, the film industry). Ford is far too clever to make sweeping statements without foundation; this is the man who ruled fashion in the late 1990s and invented the concept of the modern, ruthlessly branded fashion label. And he is right - fashions now come and go so fast that only the most ardent fashion victims can keep up.
Viktor & Rolf spring/summer 2006
Some designers flit from one theme to another each season - think of Miuccia Prada's shift from a s
ombre, largely black collection this autumn to
her feather-light one for next spring. Or Marc Jacobs,
who for autumn decreed a new egg-shaped silhouette, only to replace it for
next spring with the clean preppy lines of American youth.
Of course fashion thrives on change - its continual pursuit of the new and novel is what keeps the industry alive and keeps us, the consumers, interested. It's fun to buy new things and change the way we look, but the speed at which fashion evolves now feels out of control. Trends move more quickly than ever before; they come and go in a matter of weeks, not months or years as they used to. High street shops turn around new collections so quickly that if you don't buy on a first visit you are unlikely ever to see the most sought-after pieces again. Sometimes it is easier, as Ford says, to opt out altogether and live life in a nice pair of jeans.
Of course, it's in the best interests of the fashion industry to convince us that if we don't have the latest dress, bag or pair of shoes, we've been left behind. Last year the womenswear market was worth £38 billion and is growing steadily, but as the womenswear buyer of a well-known London boutique recently admitted to me, trends come and go so quickly that women get turned off by the whole thing. They feel as though none of it applies to them and end up stuck in a style rut.
But some designers out there are trying to slow things down. In Paris this week the
avant-garde duo Viktor & Rolf said: "Fashion is running out of time. There is too much, too fast. The only way to progress is with our originality and patience."
This new breed, who belong to the slow fashion movement, believe in developing a look over several seasons. Their aesthetic develops over years and their labels seem more relevant to real women because of that. Phoebe Philo, Alber Elbaz at Lanvin and Christopher Bailey at Burberry produce collections that shun the dramatic biannual about-turns that other labels revel in. Take Chloé, for example, where Philo develops the brand each season, adding to her lexicon of looks so that her designs are never simply one-hit wonders - they are of the moment, yet timeless too.
No, says Justine Picardie - fashion may be transient, but you should tackle it at your own pace
It was Coco Chanel, that most acerbic and knowing of iconic designers, who remarked, "Fashion should slip out of your hands. The very idea of protecting the seasonal arts is childish. One should not bother to protect that which dies the minute it is born." It's an intriguing suggestion, that fashion is something we can never preserve, for it is always elusive, always on the verge of escaping us, and that is why we follow it.
Looking at it her way, fashion is like quicksilver; and to castigate it for change would be to miss its point entirely. Thus, the fashion industry has built itself around mutability; marking the passing of the seasons with transient collections, adjustments, reinventions, predictions.
Chanel autumn/winter 2005/6
But look at it another way, although still through the prism of Chanel, and you can see that some things endure in the lexicon of fashion: not least the little black dress, first popularised by Coco Chanel in the Twenties, and back in the shops again this year (as always). Then there's the talismanic Chanel iconography, the camellias and pearls; the double Cs and number fives - all still here, reworked yet remarkably timeless.
And you don't have to dress in Chanel to know that there will be elements of your own wardrobe that remain constant: your favourite jeans, softened through washing and wearing until they fit you, and you alone; or maybe some reliably durable T-shirts (I like mine in black from Gap or Petit Bateau, precisely because they don't change the cut).
Then there are the pieces we love because of the history that is attached to them - the red party shoes that carried you towards your heart's desire; the dove-grey cashmere sweater that softened a harsh winter or a colder rejection. These are the keepsakes that we keep safe (and keep us feeling safe, in turn); and with these in place, you can gladly go on the occasional shopping expedition to pick up something more ephemeral.
But curiously - and maybe this is a sign of middle age - when I do go out searching for the new, it often looks familiar. Take this summer's beaded boho tops - surely, they were more or less the same as last year's offerings (and those of the year before that)? Or this autumn's proclamation that black is back: well, we've all been here before, haven't we? As for the latest military jackets - they're near identical to the Topshop version I bought several winters ago.
Perhaps what is most important, in the end, is to remember that fashion is all about you - your tastes, your desires, your need for change, or constancy. You can make it go as fast or as slow as you want; you can take your time, go at your own pace. Without your choices, there would be no fashion industry; without you, your wardrobe would have no stories to tell.
Justine Picardie's new book, 'My Mother's Wedding Dress', is published by Picador, £12.99
all righty then
