A Retro-Futuristic Fashion
Tearsheet by Cheyney Chiddick.
Despite the unfortunate events of the pandemic, it did not stop designers and creatives from curating coveted designs for this season. Indeed the show must go on. The only difference? We all get to attend and enjoy the show from the comforts of our own couches.
Retro styles come and go with the seasons – it always has been this way. Nostalgia and longings for the past is, without a doubt, an innate part of what makes us human, deeply embedded within our subconscious.
Bring it back to the 80’s fashion scene: a timeless and recurring theme throughout the weeks of Fashion Month. During SS17, boxy, structured shoulders paired with belted, cinched waists were the highlight of the Balenciaga show. Black luxe leathering, bustier tops and lustrous mini cocktail dresses with a deep V-line cut opened the Saint Laurent show as Anthony Vaccarello, shadowing in the footsteps of Hedi Slimane, made his debut appearance as creative director. It was a revival stretch of the 80’s in Paris.
And again this spring, the 80’s have resurfaced, but with a futuristic twist. An 80’s nightclub came to life at the Isabel Marant show, as models boldly yet rhythmically strutted to a disco remix of Donna Summer’s hit “I Feel Love.” And while Marant showcased her classic Parisian silhouettes in just about every color, shade and printed pattern possible, the energetic addition of tumbling and acrobatics in the background made all for an even livelier scene.
Meanwhile, Demna Gvasalia also called back to the 80’s but distinctly manifested his own futuristic vision of fashion. The Balenciaga models, decked out in dark-framed sunglasses, structured coats and dark hues of black and navy, walked the nighttime streets of Paris, lip-syncing to an 80’s sampling of Corey Hart’s, “I Wear My Sunglasses At Night.” Gvasalia’s inspiration for the collection was a vision in which he imagined how fashion will be in a decade from now. “There’s a need to revise things. To start a new chapter.”, he writes. And yet, besides the obvious differences in style between the major fashion power houses, there was a common denominator of bopping ‘80s pop-synths, a driving impetus that truly brought the “future” out of “retro.” Interestingly enough, during the making of “I Feel Love,” the producers employed the use of a Moog synthesizer, as they aimed to create a futuristic mood. Similarly, we hear the same underlying synths in the sampling used for the Balenciaga show.
While retro-futurism isn’t exactly a new theme – it permeated into the culture of the 1960’s and 1970s, it was really this notion of futurism that harbored influence around the shows, with designers deciding to proceed with this season in spite of the pandemic. In face of the unsettling nature of the pandemic, the disconcerting realities of the present mirrored the shows presented this season. After all, fashion shows aim to reflect the current circumstances of the political and social landscape.
Optimism and creative innovation, with a subtle infusion of nostalgia and hope, is a better description to embody this season’s presentations. Designer J.W. Anderson’s “Show-in-a-Box” and “Show-on-a Wall” went beyond the norm of typical creative parameters, in which the season’s looks were presented in an alternate form of A4-sized cardboard boxes. While the shows were digitally planned over many Zoom calls and video conferences, there was a quaint and personal quality that emerged as a byproduct as the Irish designer drew personal inspiration from poet Oscar Wilde’s single liner: “the secret of life is in art.”
From asymmetrical cuts and silky gowns, to draping silhouettes and exaggerated voluminous dresses, Anderson’s languid dressing exuded a language of escapism and liberation, and visions of of an alternate reality beyond and after the pandemic. The incorporated maxims of “The future is unwritten” and “Keep looking up” served as positive food for thought and contemplation, further inducing a sense of hope and buoyancy in the midst of troubled times. His personal and innovative solution of his “show box”, so to speak, or what one could even safely observe as a “quarantine box,” revealed a refreshing blend of the past, present and future with a new approach to design, creative philosophies and how we might perceive fashion going forward. “We are in a poignant moment, but also in a very exciting moment, where we can reinvent ourselves. We can reinvent how we approach creativity,” Anderson says.
Could this be it? The future of fashion, with an ode to digital creativity and retro-future trends, and the possible yet perhaps practical absence of physical fashion shows. How fashion, creative collaborations and designers will make change in the future is all still yet to unfold.
Article by Hanna Yi, Contributor, PhotoBook Magazine
Isabel Marant Runway Spring 2021
Isabel Marant Runway Spring 2021
Yves Saint Laurent Runway Fall/Winter 2020
