As my dear
friend Mary Russell, former Vogue, WWD editor and ever informed fashion aficionado
said to me recently that our new normal is abnormal … it is surreality
and so it is …. without any argument from me.
We have just
completed the couture cycle (seemingly sans Valentino and Prive) and one must wonder or might even be perplexed by
who needs these clothes in these precarious times; shouldn’t we think that
couture is out of synch with our times? Shouldn’t we all be more concerned
about vaccines, equality and incompetence than we are about labels, Lesage and
creations that may never ever go any further than a closet? What needs to be
said at this point is that couture has always been an escapist pursuit for the uninformed from which they extract their dreams
and fantasies. For those of us who are seasoned veterans of fashion and those
who truly understand the business of fashion… well, we have a different take on
things and it’s not just about pretty clothes.
Yes, it is
somewhat comforting to see clothes that we once associated with being the finest
that money could buy but now you honestly have to ponder who and why anyone
will buy them, let alone where and if they will ever get worn. As far as I can
tell, only one designer seemed to understand and grasp this most salient point
via his imaging and that was Alexandre Vauthier. Yet, we fashion addicts can still see that
somewhere buried in this profusion of conspicuous consumption is the slightest
breath of how genuine fashion incubates.
“It feels inauthentic: a copy of an idea from
another creative discipline. And the problems of couture are not so much
financial (most of the brands that can afford couture have enough of a cash
cushion to survive the current situation, and someone, somewhere, is still
buying it) as existential. With the dire state of the world, what’s the point?” Vanessa Friedman NYT
This entire
all-encompassing conundrum has taken its toll on all of us … consciously or
unconsciously. Personally, this is something I would never reveal in times that
have passed, but I haven’t worn a pair
of pants with a waistband in months nor
have I worn a pair of real shoes in that
time frame and most shockingly I only wear my beaded bracelets for a weekly photo op and have not wrapped a scarf
around my neck in months! Between pandemic, idiocy at the top of the pyramid, and the insensitivity that apparently envelops us, it is a wonder I ever leave my
home at all! Fashion now needs to be viewed on a somewhat more cerebral and
realistic level rather than just the obvious.
I MISS IT
ALL! My closet is a museum….
This new surreality
includes shopping online like never before and dressing from the waist up
for your ZOOM meeting. Then there is of course that moment when you slip on a
pair of elastic waist shorts or sweats and pair them with a Cuccinelli cashmere
or an ETRO shirt just to remind yourself of what once was. The other scenario
is either wear something new that you really didn’t need to buy in the first place
or air out a wearable heirloom from your closet museum… this would never have happened in the past but
now in this surreality, people, including myself, are doing it not as a fashion
statement but as a feel-good moment. As I read earlier this week, people still have
a need to dress up and feel better about themselves so they are doing it except
they are doing it at home…. You know the saying all dressed and no place to go
… well, we are living it now! Masks, pandemics, brutality, inequality, protests
and overall insanity.
To complete
this circle of hell, as it were, we have the couture which most definitely is showing
signs of outliving its purpose and prestige as well as being démodé in most
cases (a cyclical concept). Let’s face it, all these collections that have just
shown are primarily evening clothes…
where exactly is one wearing them when all social gatherings of every kind are at a standstill
and yes it might change in the blink of an eye but then sadly it can reverse just as quickly. Unless you have untold wealth at your fingertips and
collect couture as a hobby, who is buying couture and why? … let alone why does
anyone really care? I don’t think it would be a stretch of the imagination to
liken couture to Nero fiddling while Rome burns!
Keep in mind
that couture is direct to customer much like current
internet selling but at 100 times the price while ready to wear is in a Catch 22 with stores still
heaving in old merchandise and their need for new merchandise to lure their
customers back in and if that is not
enough add rent, wages, employees and
regulations that might allow you
to receive customers once again. This is not the world of fashion I signed up
for or fell in love with anymore but I remain hopeful.
In the end,
I tip my hat to all the warriors of fashion (to whom this is dedicated) who
will do everything they need to do to outlive this crisis which has affected
everyone involved in fashion in ways we never imagined or might have fathomed.
How this will all play out remains a mystery but I want to believe that the
true warriors of fashion will win out in the end and survive to recount the
tales of these horrendous, precarious and nebulous times.
