This decade is one of fashions worst missteps since the 80's

[Allius]

I am getting the feeling that this is thread is aiming towards williamsburg/hipster/urbanoutfitters people.

 

[sergio lessa]

See, almost all arguments, even when really antagonic ones, can be refered to some example of this or that trend, one or another designer. That is so because there is a so general crisis in humanity relation to life in general (nothing seams to have any purpose... and this is taken as a matter of fact situation on existence) that fashion necessarily became a 10.000 heads hydra (a monster of 10.0000 heads so, every argument has a good point and also many flaws. If we don't get aware of deeper relationship underlining nowadays fashion, we cannot understant it -- I would, we would even loose the urge to understant it!

Sergio Lessa

 

[ElectricAlyce]

I'd rather sit as a 80 year old, looking at old pictures and thinking "what the HELL was I wearing??" than thinking "oh..."

 

[wooly]

I agree Kelly, it really is a mash-up

Agreed. I cannot believe this decade is nearly over! I still miss the CK 90s!

 

[Crying Diamonds]

I really don't think this decade's fashions will be badly remembered at all - most of the clothes today are way too bland to be considered cringeworthy.
The eighties at least had character - we go "What the hell were you wearing?!" to our parents, gesturing at the major shoulder pads and offensive perms in dated photos, but it was fashionable back then, like whale bone corsets and chandelier-touching wigs.
That's the entire idea of fashion isn't it?

 

[Lite_Brite]

There are so many things going on in fashion right now and the excitement undulates with each season. There have been highs and lows, both in terms of individual seasons as well as within each season. This decade can't be summed up any more easily than can the 80s, which are constantly getting nailed as being too this or too that, but in the end Issey Miyake and Versace were existing in the same slice of the space-time continuum. On top of this, the dominant trends circa 2000-2002 were so drastically different from what's going on now, and there has been a lot of stuff in between.

Our culture is certainly more fragmented than it has ever been, and what I like about this is the freedom to ignore the bad and focus on the good. I don't think there has ever been a period in history where people in general dressed well, because most aren't that bothered with it. So I don't concern myself with that. Midwestern college girls dressing like **** can't undermine ten years of brilliance from the many geniuses of the fashion world.

 

[dior_couture1245]

Midwestern college girls dressing like **** can't undermine ten years of brilliance from the many geniuses of the fashion world.

I think that's a very smart comment.

 

[sergio lessa]

and now!?

For this topic -- i.e. does fashion has underline trent that is related to the particular concrete situations in general -- will be most interesting the influence of the present crisis. What do you think will happen in this context?

Sergio Lessa

 

[Urban Stylin]

am still tryin to think of somethin new from our decade....

 

[Urban Stylin]

oooo...quickie botox!!!

 

[cato.]

I feel that this decade hasn't been very inspiring in terms of fashion .. especially now that with the recession and all .. I miss the fashion rush of the 80s-90s

 

[John_M.]

Here's something I wonder for those who feel it is such a mis-step... is it because of no real definite style? Was it because of trying to come up with some fashion hits... that ultimately end up misses?

I'm going to be honest about the whole fashion thing. If '80s style was so bad, why bring it back? Why remind us why the '80s (and even early '90s) were so ridiculously bad? Don't give me this "20-year cycle stuff." Was the '80s revived so that most of us 21st Century people would be reminded of the '80s and why we're better off now than we were back then? The '80s revival just got old fast. It's a fad, yet some love this decade like it's the best decade of all time. I've hated the '80s though I was born in 1983 (yes- I'm 25). All the specials and stuff from the '80s... like "SingStar 80s," VH1's "I Love the '80s," the Guitar Hero and Rock Band stuff about '80s rock, "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" and "GTA: Vice City Stories"... who fing cares about the '80s? That's what it comes down to- looking back at the '80s and making us remember just how far and how long we've forgotten the '80s.

On a somewhat happier and lighter note, is this more about a mismatched sense of style overall that has made this decade one of the worst in the minds of a fashion critic? I've immediately thought of the '70s as fun and funky fashion and lifestyle. I think of the Victorian Era (as far as women's fashion) as incredibly modest and lovely. The 1920s could be thought of as a sense of change with the shorter dresses and flappers. The 1960s are kind of a continuation of the '50s... except when a little get-together called Woodstock came around. I mean... is it really not a real sense of direction that has made this decade so poor in the eyes of fashion critics? I don't really understand what all of this is about as far as thinking of the 2000s as the worst decade of fashion since the '80s.

 

[ellesea]

I mean... is it really not a real sense of direction that has made this decade so poor in the eyes of fashion critics?

I think you hit the nail on the head with that one, as to why many think this decade has been the worst in terms fashion. Maybe fashion has become too democratic....too many styles, too many RECYCLED styles, that it does not have its own identity...own sense of a single direction.

Actually, it reminds me of Canadian politics. there is the constant argument of whether we have no national identity because we are so multicultural or whether that in itself IS our identity. And on the latter...

I think it's really however one looks at it, both sides are right. At once, this decade is a bag of recycled fashions. A plaid shirt from there, neon wayfarers from here, lace from there, gold bamboo earrings from here... But perhaps this decade is also the decade that will remembered in history as the most interesting one, as it was when everything came together. When trends really meshed, when designers thought outside of the box (or decade in this case!) and created something new.

 

[Mindbear]

To be succinct regarding this decade. We have NOTHING original, we innovate nothing, and that is true of music too, there are very very few bands doing anything new whatsoever, they're just using expensive equipment to make things sound authentically old, and electro is doing probably less now than it was in the 1980's. All our style has become so obsessed about looking retro in some way or another, that we're close to looking like we're having a night out at a fancy dress party. It's rubbish.

 

[Dkammern]

when i hear/read some of the opinions posted, i can't help thinking of what Lagerfeld has said over and over again... it goes on about how he hates the people who miss the good old days "FcK de good old days!" he says, "if it was better then maybe it is time to commit suicide!"
and lagerfeld puts it in very harsh, very lagerfeld manner... but the message is right if we leave the dramatism aside.
When one thinks all creativity is gone, and that nobody does what balenciaga used to do anymore, and all those sorts of drama... why not just loose all interest and do a dramatic au revoir à la Saint Laurent, or go "cry over taffeta" (another of karl's favourite expressions), or become an old-fashioned granny like Coco became herself in her later days against the miniskirt and the trousers in the city? wouldnt that seem more appropriate and consequent with all these harsh opinions that scream out loud the terrible loss of creativity that our generation is suffering from? go boring, retrograde! it's "the new thing"!
please excuse me as i never intended my post to come out so direct... but i can't help but being shocked by the fact that so many people are feeling so desperate for what's to come and how this decade will be remembered. i have the impression some people even feel responsible for it! it's just 2008 here! it seems that as much as globalization has helped the world to come together and share ideas and evolve together, it has also urged us all to crave for immediate answers to questions we shouldt be able to answer quite yet! how are we going to remember the current decade? who cares about it!!? carpe diem (as much as we can with what we are given)

 

[AMACINOM]

i feel that we have seen in these past few years, the fashion 'revival' of every decade in the past century.

 

[John_M.]

So would you say that since this is a new century and a new millenium, that we're kind of looking back on the past century and millenium on fashion style? Think of trying to make the past century's trends and styles interesting for this day and age. And if that's true, maybe the 2010s will have its own fashionable identity apart from this decade.

 

[Crying Diamonds]

I think you hit the nail on the head with that one

As do I.

There is no style for the noughties. Looking back in time you can immediately imagine the silhouettes of every decade and then it comes to the late nineties and it just sort of blurs.
I think the structured pieces are the clothes that shall define this fashion era - think neoprene Balenciaga.
But there are no trends that define the era; structured pieces are good for the runway and the rich but they can hardly be mass-produced as so they become a new fashion.
The trends these days are just regurgitated over and over.
I often wonder if there are actually any close-to-new ideas out there or if they've all been done.



I think it's time we all started to wear the uber-modern clothes the people in the fifties thought we would be wearing in the uber-modern future of the twenty-first century.

Logan's Run, much?

blogger.com

 

[pavementfrippery]

I do think that what innovations will be made in fashion from now on will largely be made in the area of fabrics, as cut and silhouette-wise everything has been done.

Nevertheless, the time most difficult to look at objectively is surely the one you are living in and i think it is silly to say there have been absolutely NO new styles in this decade.
When else have jeans been so tight and low, as has recently been fashion? The combination of the skinny leg and hipster cut pant has never been in before, as far as I can tell. I believe it is the very low hipster style that will come to define this decade's fashion.

 

[centrestage88]

one look that I'm very very glad didn't involve into a trend is the jeans tucked into gladiator shoes/strappy open toe shoes. And the finger gloves style that paris hilton tried to start!

I think when we look back at today's fashion in the future, we'll be laughing....but in good fun. Fashion is all about experimenting and having fun. And we're having fun.