NEXT

[Burlingame]

But if we just talk about the silhouette, I don't think that's broad enough.

Gotcha. I see your point.

[Macro]

Well, yeah, if you speak broadly enough it's all recycled. But we don't have to be all broad. For me a new aesthetic is possible and is big enough to bring about change. But if we just talk about the silhouette, I don't think that's broad enough. In a way you are right about Hedi (putting aside the contention that he simply swiped from Raf and made it pop with the Dior marketing muscle behind him), but it was more than just the silhouette that he brought. It was a new aesthetic which encompassed that silhouette.

E, you nailed it with this last statement. Both aspects - silhouette and aesthetic - must be in confluence when considering where fashion flows from here. If one must masticate 'NEXT' then these must be equally in the soup, for as you say and I concur, it's all been remixed.

I, for one, am very sensitive to lifestyle and storytelling (not necessarily of the fantastical, but of the personal also) which I guess, in a wider viewpoint is within aesthetic, which can then zoom out to universe. Silhouette proposals, from my seat, flower from aesthetic perspective as I feel silhouettes must be contextualized in order to convince me to consider the shape. Ergo, visual impact is my pop, which probably makes me a romantic.

But now my two cents, onto the topic at hand: NEXT. How do we collectively turn the page? There is enough tension in the room to pullulate this question, which proves in my mind everyone worth their salt is asking the same of themselves, of their work, of the world. AKA proposed the idea of proliferation and stagnation, which is highly apt, and holds relevance beyond clothing into all forms of art, politics, science, spirituality... there is a collective hunger for a break as we bend from taut zeitgeist, our edges dipped in the unknown and phosphorescent future.

The questions asked breed proliferation, the dialetic opposite to stagnation. Perhaps once our collective perspectives break so shall our aesthetics, so shall our desires. I have no answers for what will emerge. I only ask we consider the stagnation and choose proliferation so we may breed healthy, active discource and, perhaps more crucial, work.

[Burlingame]

my guess is that the stagnation you speak of will continue for a while before what's "next" is apparent.

[Faust]

Looks like at least few people are fed up with the Thom Browne epidemic.

From the Business of Fashion article

LOOKING AHEAD
But while bright colours and tailoring, as well as easy online access, might have the proverbial cash registers ringing (and online baskets overflowing), not everyone is enamoured of the current trends in menswear. Last year, during a fashion roundtable for Bon magazine, the publication’s editor, Madeleine Levy lamented the surfeit of pocket squares and tailoring that’s dominating menswear, making “grown men look as though their mothers dressed them up..like little boys going to a birthday party.”

“I don’t understand what’s going on. It’s really boring again! It’s that whole fascination with a gentleman’s wardrobe,” added the fashion writer Jo-Ann Furniss. “It’s incredibly conservative. We can’t go back in time; we’ve got to go forward. And pocket handkerchiefs are holding us back.”

Mr Schuman agrees it’s time for change. “It’s time for a new suit shape,” he said as we walked back from watching the final of the Euro 2012 at the Nike Barber Shop in Paris last night, commenting on the short jacket, cropped trousers silhouette that continues to dominate the catwalks and front rows. “We need something to re-ignite menswear again.”

[several_girls]

I'm surprised that some form of my own perspectives on fashion and what's "next" hasn't already been articulated elsewhere in the thread. FWIW:

- I see the growing interest in artisinal, designer and niche fashion as the product of growing income inequality. This has also caused the growth of Whole Foods/organic produce, the success of "slow food" restaurants, and interest in fair trade/artisinal/designer products in general. At the same time, I recognize and attribute agency where it is due, and the internet has linked up people with similar interests who cannot find such a community in their area.

- As a related point, I think we'll see growth in uncharted territory. We're already seeing this with Rick, Julius, Givenchy, CdG H+ and a few others who are making skirts. Skirts, dresses, sandals, clogs, flats, etc. Some conceptual, and not necessarily literal equivalent of a flat would make perfect sense for men. I see so many guys in online forms are searching for something that bridges the gap in formality between sneakers and derbies.

- I can only speak to men's fashion here, but look at the last three or four groundbreaking, big names: Rick, Hedi, Raf... When they put looks on the runway, they were derived from the streets and youth. Over their careers, these guys obviously drew from a number of other sources, but Raf literally cast teenagers he found in the city, Rick's athletic bent draws from LA street gangs, Hedi of course was close to Pete Doherty and the music and style of that scene. Ossendrijver's Lanvin elevated sweatpants and sneakers. I would also mention here Miyashita's crust punk in the Scab collection, and Kawakubo's own beginnings producing zines on a xerox.

I'm concurring with Faust in one way, and disagreeing with others. I think Lost & Found, Carol, Sruli and the like are outside the "fashion discussion." Therefore, I wouldn't look to these designers and labels to see what's next. It's not a trickle-down operation, it's more colonial: the raw material is harvested from the urban street, labored over and refined, then exported.

- Historically speaking, what is perceived as underwear or too informal in one generation becomes the norm for the next. Remember when t-shirts were supposed to be just undershirts? You can say "it's all been done before" with the silhouette, but what is acceptable as a garment actually has changed quite a bit over time. We no longer wear powdered wigs and knee-breeches.

[Faust]

/\ Marc Jacobs is certainly pushing the latter.

[several_girls]

/\ Marc Jacobs is certainly pushing the latter.

Heh, it occurred to me as I typed that up that there are many designers reaching back into medieval, renaissance, baroque and romantic periods for inspiration (Damir went back to Greece or Rome for that last S/S collection, no?). I omitted for the sake of efficiency.

[Geoffrey B. Small]

Very sorry several_girls, but I stumbled on this post and out of respect for all of my colleagues, suppliers, team members, buyers and press who bought and covered us, have to chime in quickly... we introduced the baroque and Napoleonic-style in Paris in January 2004 when nobody was even close to it, and were written up for it in L'Uomo Vogue and a pile of other international mags, and we did the same and were also the first to do medieval in Paris in October 2006 with the same results. In both cases, we led the industry, with packs of the world's top names following us within only 1 to 2 seasons on each theme. After about a dozen collections very seriously concentrated on both eras and very successful commercially as well, "Many designers reaching back now" to those periods is hardly what we would even begin to consider "next."

Better try again a little harder next time....

With apologies again
Cheers,


Geoffrey and the Team

[Patroklus]

Ann Demeulemeester has been mining those periods, among other things, since the 80s.

At any rate, minor inspirationary things aren't really significant. It's not the kind of thing that would generally make a huge, sweeping change in fashion.

[Geoffrey B. Small]

You'd be surprised. And actually, Ann was mainly mining Patti Smith since the '80's.

[Patroklus]

That shirt is pure Renaissance. Dropped shoulders, poofy sleeves, drawstring closure. I wore almost the same thing when I did Renaissance Fairs. She did lots of jerkhins in that time period too. She pulls from a lot of things, like any good designer, but the men's tends to feel more historical than the women's. The women's is more conceptual, a little more Smithy, and better in general.

But my point was that historical references are hardly new.

[Geoffrey B. Small]

Demeulemeester only started their men's collection in 2005. Please be careful Patroklus, you don't know what we know. You are not in it. And your perspective, and your information, is limited from where you are. I will leave things at that, and not go any further into the matter here.

[Patroklus]

I was referring to her work as a whole, not the 80s stuff. The men's references historical clothing more obviously than the women's. There's no need to get dismissive.

[Fenix]

Hey, Al Gore claimed he invented the internet too...I do know that.

[Macro]

You'd be surprised. And actually, Ann was mainly mining Patti Smith / Arthur Rimbaud / Virginia Woolf / David Bowie since the '80's.

fixed.