Pushing the envelope - avant garde style

[educo]

It's a shame this thread is not updated more often!

 

[softgrey]

It's a shame this thread is not updated more often!

i agree...
was actually hoping you had posted a pic of yourself in that sideways dress by mmm x hm...

i tried to upload a pic but it wouldn't work...
maybe that's a sign from the universe?~!

...


.........

 

[softgrey]

someone said recently that the avant garde has gone mainstream...

does anyone agree with that ?...

i kind of do...

a lot of things like cotton candy coloured hair would have been considered avant garde in the past...not so much these days...

opinions...thoughts?!

 

[educo]

i agree...
was actually hoping you had posted a pic of yourself in that sideways dress by mmm x hm...

i tried to upload a pic but it wouldn't work...
maybe that's a sign from the universe?~!

...


.........

I ended up not getting anything from that collection. BUT, I recreated the fold over oversized trousers from a very nice pair of trousers I found at my local thrift shop. I should attempt the sideways dress too since it's quite simple to replicate.

 

[educo]

someone said recently that the avant garde has gone mainstream...

does anyone agree with that ?...

i kind of do...

a lot of things like cotton candy coloured hair would have been considered avant garde in the past...not so much these days...

opinions...thoughts?!

I think it has gotten a lot more exposure, because of social media. And because of that people are making attempts at it with little success IMO. So in a way, it's gone mainstream, but not in the right way.

 

[Petit Lucille]

I do feel that comment, soft I am about to have pastel hair, i started growing it to have like that 5 years ago when it wasn't mainstream at all and now I have to accept it isn't as it was back then, but I still like it.

I think editors are the perfect example for this. Nowadays, media exposes flamboyant things, and attention whores are drawn to wearing over the top things, but only for the sake of the attention. That makes people that are authenticly flamboyant be compared to them. When people compare Bjork to Lady Gaga I want to puke. Anna Piaggi always dressed like that, if we hadn't seen her before, we would think she was only looking for attention as some editors are

 

[Psylocke]

someone said recently that the avant garde has gone mainstream...

does anyone agree with that ?...

i kind of do...

a lot of things like cotton candy coloured hair would have been considered avant garde in the past...not so much these days...

opinions...thoughts?!

I didn't read through this whole thread but I did read your original post in #1 as well as this one from 2009:

as soon as it is adopted by the mainstream...the avant gardist must move on...
or they are no longer avant garde...
so they are always pushing forward...moving towards the next thing...
until the mainstream eventually catches up again...
forcing them to push forward once more...

[...]

avant gardists usually stand alone...
they are NOT part of the fashion mainstream...
they are anomolies in the world of fashion...
most of them are not found often covered in the pages of mainstream publications like Vogue and co...

they exist in another way...
on their own terms...
they are the punks of fashion...
they are fighting the system from within...

I actually agree with ^this post. Curios to think how you would define avant garde now since you're saying you agree with avant garde becoming mainstream? Are you saying avant garde is dying because no one has come up with something entirely new?

I definitely agree that many extravagant trends have surfaced in recent years and it's making it more difficult to be fashion forward because it seems like everything has already been done, anything from super minimalistic to ridiculous and over the top is all pretty much acceptable at the moment. I don't think I could recognize something as being 'avant garde' the moment I see it, I don't even have anything in mind when I think of the term. And I agree with Lucille that it's mainly the attention wh*ring that's to blame for this; those people are not fashion forward, they're just being extreme and it makes you become tired of eccentric fashion.

 

[softgrey]

I didn't read through this whole thread but I did read your original post in #1 as well as this one from 2009:



I actually agree with ^this post. Curios to think how you would define avant garde now since you're saying you agree with avant garde becoming mainstream? Are you saying avant garde is dying because no one has come up with something entirely new?

I definitely agree that many extravagant trends have surfaced in recent years and it's making it more difficult to be fashion forward because it seems like everything has already been done, anything from super minimalistic to ridiculous and over the top is all pretty much acceptable at the moment. I don't think I could recognize something as being 'avant garde' the moment I see it, I don't even have anything in mind when I think of the term. And I agree with Lucille that it's mainly the attention wh*ring that's to blame for this; those people are not fashion forward, they're just being extreme and it makes you become tired of eccentric fashion.

i have to agree with this mostly...
to a certain extent i have felt myself pulling back how i dress because i would rather not be associated with those types of silly people...
and then you have all the hipsters around here that have co-opted the whole vintage thing and made vintage seem rather 'victim-y' as well...

it's hard to be cool and original, imo...
that's why i admire it so much when i see it!...
...

personally- i have found that i have been going back into my wardrobe and pulling out some amazing and original pieces...
then combining them with newer things...
this is what's working for me at the moment...
at least no one has the old stuff and it's amazing stuff, so it's never going to be 'out of style'...

i'm reminded of something runner said in the yohji yamamoto thread...
looking back to go forward...or something like that...

maybe that's what's working for me at the moment...
B)
quoting runner talking about Yohji Yamamoto:

maybe he is, or "get back" was to all those who used to be the cranes in the industry? like get back to those days when the system was not this "shi tty" and the devotion to making clothes was a bit more sincere.
he is the man who walks backward into the future. he progresses with his face toward the past basically.
what is always on his mind is possibilities left in the past, "the dead" that there is to be "resurrected".

if the stagnation is really at work right now, that's lucky for the angel.
it serves as a windbreak, and he can close his wings finally.
there is a lot to do.
the future will be found in the past. something new will be born with the dead.

originally from here
http://forums.thefashionspot.com/showpost.php?p=11595951&postcount=41

 

[twistelette]

^ sounds good!
for me, dressing in an original way and being cool has more to do with style than with fashion, anyway - if that makes any sense. (not that I think I dress/am particularly cool )

 

[softgrey]

so- I'm going to say that I've decided that avant garde has to evolve because by definition it has to be before or in front of trends, so once something becomes a trend, it is no longer avant garde...

maybe that's why it's hard (perhaps impossible) to define a particular look as being avant garde...
it's constantly changing...
and that's what's good about it...

 

[Drusilla_]

I guess the only way something can become and remain avant-garde in fashion is if it has an influence on a wider circle beyond the original designer but the original look itself never gets adopted by the mass market? To take the most famous examples, CDG, Yohji and Issey Miyake are still considered 'beyond trends' and retain their reputation as designers who make pieces that are odd but timeless. It held true then as now, theirs wasn't the kind of design that would be worn on red carpets or (now) promoted by instagram influencers or the folks at whowhatwear.