Alas! The Fashion Month has come to an end, another season to look forward to, or not as the case may be for most. The month went on forever, but the boredom set in for some of us, around day three of NYFW, when it quickly became obvious that there wouldn’t be much newness to be had. Personally, I didn’t feel compelled to care about any of it. Don’t get me wrong, I am an avid fashion week fan, I love the newness, the culture, and movement, trends, aesthetics, the weird and wonderful, sometimes even the fashion blogger with their antics. Its all fun and games, and its all part of the season, but we never lost sight of the business at hand. This season, however, such cannot be said. Fashion is serious business, it goes beyond the seams and into our psyche. Forget those who would tell you otherwise, fashion is money and its roots are ingrained in our lifestyle. Whether it is by imitation from a high street store or directly from the designer, collections go a long way to make it into our closets.
This season between the game of spotting the Kardashian-Wests-Jenner posse, Kim’s ever plunging necklines, and which toddler was sitting front row, the message became a muddled mess. If Kendall Jenner was walking a show, the press immediately made it the Kendall Jenner show; we get it, she is a model, a good one at that, but you know, let’s focus on what we are here to do, because she is one in a long line of many, old faces, new faces, models everywhere its kinda the way things work *insert side eye here*.
As for the collections, this season New York was lacklustre, there was very little to inspire spending money for next season. For the first time in a long time, it felt like designers were stuck for inspiration; hardly any collection stood out, safe hands were played and felt. There were flashes here and there, but for the most part, no spark, no moment; every fashion show must have a moment that stops us dead in our tracks, but in all the weeks, all those shows, the moments were slow to come. Milan tried to be a lot about the business of fashion, surprisingly it was less of a fanfare and more about the clothes but even for those zesty italians, with their love of life, it was hard to pull something out of the bag.
This time round, Paris was a mess, less about substance, more about the flash, it fell flat. It was more about wondering whether Kanye and Kim would attend the show, the crush outside the venues and the brouhaha they caused on the front row etc. the collections took a backseat because the media wouldn’t shut up about them. Kanye comes with his own background noise, is there any need to give him more? The message and moments were lost in the midst of the madness.
For their own part, designers were uninspiring, maybe even uninspired by their inspirations; boredom will do that to you. Instead of predicting the future, the consistent look at the past is now the biggest achilles heel in fashion. How much longer can the boho 70s look stick around, or the 50s, or the 60s? It was fun the first few fashion weeks but it is time for an elevation of thought that moves the ground beneath our feet. I understand the allure of the past but it is time to look to the future and destabilise the current fashion world order. It is time to temper down the excitement and return to the work at hand, the focus on the designer, the collection, the story otherwise we are going to keep wondering just where the wild things are to make our hearts stop and sing.