I'm of the belief that there's two camps of high design in fashion.* One's reductionistic--the stripping of all froth and excess down to the elements: wearable, effortless, beautiful, impeccable construction. Just think- Yves Saint Laurent, Raf Simmons, Yohji Yamamoto, Martin Margiela--and of course their offshoots (the perfect tee shirt crew). They strip style down to its most basic, beautiful, and exalted function: living.
Then there's the other approach, what I've read described as "Arch Style."** The mad geniuses like Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Rei Kawakubo, Philip Treacy, Thierry Mugler, the couturiers. Fashion is to be pushed, molded, obliterated, and reconceived. Style is not for living (or necessarily wearing), it's about life.
Of course, designers can weave in and out of both camps, and the usual, if not always fulfilled expectation is that they can do both. The emphasis of late, since the recession, has been on the former camp. But i have to say that despite my personal preference for the simple, Alexander McQueen's collection was the apex of Paris, so beautiful, inventive, and forward thinking was it. The kaleidoscopic reptillian prints, the shoes that looked, in Cathy Horyn's words, like "the hulls of ships," and the narrative of evolution: the interplay between nature and technology.
These are images from Style.com but do yourself a favor and go to the NYTimes gallery, where you can focus in. Simply mindblowing.
* By all means, if you disagree with how i've divided the above, or have other names to throw in the mix, please please do!
**Articulated by photographer Tom Hines in a Dossier article
I wanted to say thank you again for the compliment and insight about my blog. I can never begin to express the gratitude I have when people understand exactly what I'm doing and why I'm doing it.
ReplyDeleteThe entire internet is buzzing over McQueen and the shoes, which are glorious but I can't get over the bending of that bracelet. I know it's such a small and probably overlooked detail of the show, but it's amazing direction for jewelry to go into. I can only hope someone makes a cheaper alternative. I also can't believe how much McQueen has challenged the shapes of fashion with this collection. I have no idea how on earth he can possibly top himself.