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Op-Ed | Whatever: How Fashion Lost Its Meaning

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  • Ahimsa
    Vegan Police
    • Sep 2011
    • 1879

    Op-Ed | Whatever: How Fashion Lost Its Meaning

    From The Business of Fashion

    "Fashion has entered a state of pure postmodernism where anything goes and nothing means anything anymore, argues Eugene Rabkin.

    In 2006, the American artist Jason Rhoades installed his final work in his Los Angeles studio before overdosing on a combination of heroin and medication. The installation was called Black Pussy and spread over 3,000 square feet. Besides 185 neon signs that spelled out various terms for female genitalia, there were hundreds of hookah pipes, 350 dream catchers, 89 beaver hats, 72 Chinese Scholar stones and more.

    The implications were multi-faceted. But the work certainly underscored the rise of an “anything goes” art climate, in which specific movements were dead and the very definition of art was hard to pin down. Anything could be defined as art and so Rhoades threw anything he felt like into his last artwork. Like Marcel Duchamp before him, Rhoades seemed to claim what he did was art simply by virtue of his being an artist.

    This is exactly where fashion finds itself today. We have entered a state of pure postmodernism, where anything goes and nothing means anything anymore.

    Fashion once had its old masters in Coco Chanel and Christian Dior, its impressionists in Yves Saint Laurent and Cristobal Balenciaga, and a long stretch of its own modernist avant-garde starting with Vivienne Westwood and continuing through Jean-Paul Gaultier and Thierry Mugler to Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto and the Antwerp Six.

    It has its own pop art in Versace and Moschino, minimalists in Jil Sander and Helmut Lang, deconstructionists in Martin Margiela and Rick Owens, and provocateurs in Alexander McQueen and John Galliano.

    But what united all of the above is that they were fashion designers, meaning they had aesthetic direction and worked to convey a theme or tell a story.

    Now we find ourselves in a totally different situation. Fashion in the original sense still exists. But plenty of new forms of fashion have sprung up alongside this. H&M and Zara are fashion. Nike and Adidas are fashion. Supreme and Stüssy are fashion. Any piece of clothing is fashion, and so is the way we dress.

    But this phenomenon used to have another name. When I interviewed the art historian Valerie Steele several years ago, I asked her what the word “fashion” meant. She suggested that it was basically how one puts clothes together. To which I thought, wait a minute, that’s what we used to call style.

    Style and fashion have collapsed into each other. But being stylish and being fashionable used to mean two different things. One did not require having money to buy designer clothes; the other did. One required a certain sensibility; the other one did not. That’s why you could be called a “fashion victim,” but no one would call you a style victim.

    The signs that we are in a postmodernist era of fashion — where fashion has become unmoored and lost its original meaning — are everywhere: the rise of streetwear, a tsunami of product collaborations, normcore, dad sneakers, the ugly-made-pretty aesthetic, the erasure of concern for the quality of both materials and construction.

    Some things remain the same, of course. Brands with huge marketing budgets and a compliant fashion media (now flanked by so-called influencers) still dictate taste. The democratisation of fashion is a myth: the masses still buy what they are told. But they are no longer necessarily marching to the beat of the same drum, the same trends.

    What this all means for the future is anyone’s guess. Mine is that fashion will dissolve into a myriad stylistic tribes. You will have your streetwear diehards, your ladies who lunch, your workwear enthusiasts, your skinny indie rock wannabes, your fashion goths, and so on.

    But fashion will cease to exist as a cohesive conversation. Rather than moving forward, it will move in every direction at once.

    This isn’t necessarily good or bad. It just is. In other words, whatever."
    StyleZeitgeist Magazine | Store
  • Nomadic Planet
    Senior Member
    • Dec 2012
    • 229

    #2
    GREAT article Faut !! thanks for an interesting and insightful analysis....

    I've been thinking (and saying) this for the past couple of years, and I also do believe we have entered a new era of a myriad of micro-tribes, that will be structured around aesthetics instead of values.

    What I mean by that is that the world was more structured by values that were the reflection of institutions and structure of thoughts and aesthetics were the expression of that (like if you were left leaning in politics, you dressed like someone that is more or less visibly a lefty, or the opposite).

    In todays world, values have become super blurred (to the point they don't structure clearly enough the world) because :
    1 - there are no counter-cultures anymore, they have all been recycled / integrated into the mainstream; countercultures are mostly marketing today. In today's world we are all "alternative": it's ok to rock prison tats, have body modifications, listen to some weird music, wear some weird clothes etc.
    The mainstreamization of hipsters is an example: suddenly all advertising on TV had bearded guys with tattoos.
    Alternative is the new normal. No one gets offended by your tattoos and your peircings anymore.
    2- the diffusion of a progressive culture that is increasingly mainstream: eating organic food, caring for the environment is not a crazy thing just for hippies. Everyone aspires to that (well, at least most people outside of Trump's America...but even those people I bet wont have nothing against eating healthy cancer-free food).... to some extent the LGBT issues and the same sex marriage issues are under the same evolution... which is the evolution towards normalization.
    3- individuality and singularity: we live in societies that tell us that it's ok to be different, unique, singular... even weird.... while before you had a society that valorized the idea of normality, and fitting in. Once you became an adult you were supposed to get a job, marry, buy a house, a dog, a car... and dress like a normal person. Today, you have instead Iris Apfel celebrated as a model of individuality.

    all this blur generates the fact that an old white rich millionaire that lives in an golden penthouse with a trophy wife is elected president of the USA with an "anti-system" narrative.... you can't get more value-blur than with Milo from Breitbart...

    Aesthetics count more than values to structure the world, give meaning to it. It's a post-ideological world, where political opponents can cohabit under the same aesthetics (which wasn't the case before, either you were a preppy polo-wearing-sweater-on-shoulders type of person, or a grunge/punk/hippy etc.).


    Now the questions are: where do we go from here? are we going somewhere? or is it the new permanent state of culture?
    My guess is: probably until the next disruptive technological innovation (AI, VR, who knows what else...) this is the permanent state of culture: the Big Flat Now... https://www.businessoffashion.com/ar...e-big-flat-now

    Comment

    • Faust
      kitsch killer
      • Sep 2006
      • 37852

      #3
      Some salient points there. I don't think it's all smooth sailing for formerly counter-cultural ideas (after all Trump's America is about 47% of the population or so?) Maybe in civilized places moreso than here. But, yeah, I was quite stunned when watching the World Cup by how many players had full sleeve tattoos. They imitate David Beckham, who is, well, not exactly a counter-culture icon.

      The mainstreaming of counter-culture has been well-documented for several decades. Irony was Gen-X's last weapon, but we know it's an inadequate one, though it's still alive. Perhaps having no counter-cultural values at all is some kind of resistance mode - not resistance, but opting out in lieu of admitting defeat. Young people have shifted their care to other values - mainly, identity politics, instead of class struggle, capitalism, anti-war, anti-colonialism that has marked previous generations. Look at Dazed - everything is LGBTQ and race. It's pathetic to see how eager they are to tailor their content in order to rack up millennial page views.

      But as far as fashion - I think it's also a function that follows that of art - too much has been done, which leaves less room for something truly new. The human impulse to create is sill there - arguably more so now since the means of creative production have truly been put into the people's hands. But creating something truly new is becoming increasingly difficult. So, you do the postmodern thing - mix and match, and when you are called out for lack of originality you bring out the postmodern guns - who are you to tell me what's good or bad.

      I don't think it's all bad. I'm quite curious about the whole SoundCloud rap thing, for example, and how much they have taken from goth culture. Looking at Lil Peep and XXXtentacion - from their music to their dress. But there is something there, a kind of an energy that's not far from alternative culture in terms of values, but it's expressed in a different mode.

      I don't agree with the Big Flat Now piece when it says that there is something critical in the current modes of cultural production (see the Balenciaga Croc part). One thing is increasingly clearly at the end of the day here, though - THE VICTORY OF LATE CAPITALISM IS COMPLETE.
      Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

      StyleZeitgeist Magazine

      Comment

      • Nomadic Planet
        Senior Member
        • Dec 2012
        • 229

        #4
        I should have anticipated your Trump's America observation. I thought of that just after posting. yes, It's true. Society is increasingly polarized between left and right, which kinda contradicts my whole point on values becoming less segmenting.

        My interpretation is that because there has been an increasing blur in values, an increasing convergence of everyone into the "center" of society (meaning: margins are -at least symbolically- integrated, ie counter-cultures are absorbed), that has lead to the emergence of a new socio-cultural paradigm, and we are adapting to it. This period of adaptation seems to have a first reaction: the "extremization" of politics: both left and right need to become more extreme to be significant, because their usual positioning is just a blurred shapeless indistinct thing in the middle.

        I am from France and from Mexico. I've seen in both countries two distinct evolutions that are the result of a similar observation. In France a triumph of the "center" with Macron , based on the observation that traditional left and traditional right are meaningless and this third option kind of transcends both and -at least tries to- take the best out of both. The result for the rest of the political spectrum has been obvious: both traditional right and left parties have been pushed a little further into more "extreme" positions. the Right party has now very extreme positions on immigration etc., and there is no more left party (parti socialiste), it has imploded and been replaced by Melanchon's movement which is further left.
        And in Mexico, well, the country has never been more polarized between the left and the right, all throughout a presidential election, leading to a left wing president recently elected, for the first time in its history.

        I don't really know how this is going to evolve... time will tell... Interesting to see how "socialism" is starting to show up in the US as a viable / acceptable / normalized positioning... which is an amazing irony for the most anti-socialist country in the whole world haha.

        So yeah, now it's all about chasing counter-culture and rebellion wherever it is, because that's the new valuable rarity. Not surprising to see Dazed and similars into the LGBT space, as it's one of the fronts where this cultural conflict is still not over yet, as well as race.
        Not surprising to see luxury massively turn into streetwear and "street rebelliousness" too... From Vuitton to Vetements.
        I recently stumbled on an article shared by Brian Black Asteroid about how tech-house had lost its appeal / power / quality because it stopped being a "dangerous" thing... normalization again.
        Is there hope for more innovation to take place in tech house? Let's investigate...


        So yeah, we agree that it's the total triumph of Late Capitalism.... what I understand the big flat now piece implies is that the critical part of cultural production is totally embedded and inseparable from other narratives and emotional postures. in the big flat now, culture and commerce are the same, Art and Marketing become one (Foundation Louis Vuitton in Paris is a nice example), consumption = production, and irony, cynicism and rebellion all happen at the same time, like with the balenciaga crocs. Because that's just what post-modernity is.
        The Balenciaga-croc is the XXIst century luxury counterpart to a pair of Converse chuck taylor from the end of the XXth century. Or a Che Guevara tee-shirt. Rebellion and aesthetics hand in hand... and capitalism.
        Luxury is now the paradigm of all the consumption machine in which we live. It's not a niche for rich people anymore. With the internet, everyone consumes luxury, at least at an imaginary level. it's out in the open, for everyone to geek about (because, besides being expensive, hence excluding, luxury was mostly about knowing the codes, the brands, etc) Now everybody knows, even if they can't always buy (but then you have Grailed, eBay, StyleZeitgeist...).

        There's one last point that could be interesting to debate, it's the role of quality in fashion in general, and the value of "quality" per se.

        My point is (spoiler alert: I'll be playing devils advocate here) that quality as a structuring mechanism (ie., as something that could really set apart one brand from another, true fashion from mass-market clothes, etc.) is diluting and becoming irrelevant for many reasons.
        1- Because Quality is not so rare to obtain anymore. Any big brand or small brand can obtain true artisan quality if they chose to. So quality is a choice, not an achievement valuable per se, that should be celebrated.
        2- Because the level of industrialization has managed to create an acceptable level of quality for many mass-produced, made in China goods... eg. Balenciaga Triple S, made in China. Are those really low quality? I wouldn't know, I've never handled any, but... why wouldn't they be? This question can also be applied to the cosmetics industry for example. Is Aesop/khiels/etc... really quality, compared to smaller organic brands?
        3- Because the production-consumption cycle has speeded-up so much, quality tends to become irrelevant , as we need to switch to something new faster and faster. And this applies also to all our little SZ audience, hoarding on Rick, BBS, CCP, ... our passion for these designers and clothes, what makes us collectors, is also diluting all the "low-fi-low-speed-low-tech" approach many of these designers try to build. The idea of a unique coat that you can taylor to your unique morphology, keep and use for the rest of your life is becoming just a marketing selling point, because the reality is that you won't use only that coat, and that coat which is made to endure heavy usage will probably get very little use, because you have so many other nice things to use... :)
        so in the end, it doesnt matter if quality is a little lower on some other items, because they are more relevant, and make more sense in today's world.

        Comment

        • Nomadic Planet
          Senior Member
          • Dec 2012
          • 229

          #5
          Capitalism, "Fashion", Rebellion and counter-culture in a pair of shoes.... for the small sum of 760€... :)



          https://www.antonioli.eu/en/FR/men/products/uah19vtcnvh-blackm

          Comment

          • Faust
            kitsch killer
            • Sep 2006
            • 37852

            #6
            Interesting observations with regards to quality. Totally agree with point number 3. Actually, good quality is not in the interest of commerce, that's for sure.
            Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

            StyleZeitgeist Magazine

            Comment

            • julian_doe
              Senior Member
              • Mar 2013
              • 339

              #7
              Originally posted by Faust View Post
              Interesting observations with regards to quality. Totally agree with point number 3. Actually, good quality is not in the interest of commerce, that's for sure.
              Faust, I haven't posted in a while because the current state of fashion (among other things, like the state of the world) is so deplorable.

              Is this really a "whatever" situation?

              I mean, there are some who keep true to their craft, but the grand majority seem to be conforming. I mean, Y Project and Julius...what is going on?

              I feel like I have always been a witness because I have never worked in or influenced fashion at all. However, you live in the medium.

              How can new designers be encouraged to pursue something more "holistic" and artisanal? I don't see another Rick Owens happening anytime soon. Do you think there is hope?

              I don't agree with you on every subject/assessment (eg. I love CCP and feel like he is one of the few going against the mainstream), but I truly respect your stance and your word. What do you think can save this wave of mediocrity?
              Last edited by julian_doe; 08-26-2018, 12:08 AM.

              Comment

              • Faust
                kitsch killer
                • Sep 2006
                • 37852

                #8
                Originally posted by julian_doe View Post
                Faust, I haven't posted in a while because the current state of fashion (among other things, like the state of the world) is so deplorable.

                Is this really a "whatever" situation?

                I mean, there are some who keep true to their craft, but the grand majority seem to be conforming. I mean, Y Project and Julius...what is going on?

                I feel like I have always been a witness because I have never worked in or influenced fashion at all. However, you live in the medium.

                How can new designers be encouraged to pursue something more "holistic" and artisanal? I don't see another Rick Owens happening anytime soon. Do you think there is hope?

                I don't agree with you on every subject/assessment (eg. I love CCP and feel like he is one of the few going against the mainstream), but I truly respect your stance and your word. What do you think can save this wave of mediocrity?
                Well, yeah, obviously I think it's a whatever situation - otherwise I wouldn't write an article about it :-)

                I really have no idea what will save us from this wave of mediocrity. I am not looking for saving grace. I will continue to look for individual talented designers who will hopefully still come out of this once in a blue moon. I hope that Rick Owens is not the last of the Mohicans...
                Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

                StyleZeitgeist Magazine

                Comment

                • zamb
                  Senior Member
                  • Nov 2006
                  • 5834

                  #9
                  2- Because the level of industrialization has managed to create an acceptable level of quality for many mass-produced, made in China goods... eg. Balenciaga Triple S, made in China. Are those really low quality? I wouldn't know, I've never handled any, but... why wouldn't they be? This question can also be applied to the cosmetics industry for example. Is Aesop/khiels/etc... really quality, compared to smaller organic brands?

                  IN THE PRESENT CLIMATE THE DISCUSSION ABOUT QUALITY IS UTTER HYPOCRISY

                  Why do I say so?
                  Simple, there was a time before now, when certain countries had "know how"
                  For example, you couldn't really get really well tailored goods without going to Italy. they had years and years of developing a skill and by virtue of that, to acquire that skill you needed to work with that country or have your items produced there.
                  that has changed, and good quality items can be made anywhere. there are items made in china that are just as good and even better than those made in Italy. the problem is not location, Id argue that the issue of location now more has to do with historical stigma than real objective metrics relating to quality. A lot of factories in Major first world countries now are drawing on an immigrant (Chinese) labor pool in order to keep operations going.

                  What difference does it make, to buy a jacket made in Italy by immigrant Chinese laborers or to buy one made in china by Chinese laborers?
                  At times this comes down not to the skill of the worker, but simply labor laws and a perception of "quality" based on the country on the label.


                  I have developed an increasing distaste for mainstream fashion. the whole thing just feels banal, insipid and boring.
                  I feel like the great designer are all either retiring or dying off and being replaced by a caliber of people who are nowhere near as good
                  “You know,” he says, with a resilient smile, “it is a hard world for poets.”
                  .................................................. .......................


                  Zam Barrett Spring 2017 Now in stock

                  Comment

                  • zamb
                    Senior Member
                    • Nov 2006
                    • 5834

                    #10
                    Originally posted by Faust View Post
                    Well, yeah, obviously I think it's a whatever situation - otherwise I wouldn't write an article about it :-)

                    I really have no idea what will save us from this wave of mediocrity. I am not looking for saving grace. I will continue to look for individual talented designers who will hopefully still come out of this once in a blue moon. I hope that Rick Owens is not the last of the Mohicans...
                    I really think that Boris was and is to be the next Rick. he has all the tools...........
                    I myself wants to offer something, an alternative, but somehow what is and what ought isnt one and the same,
                    “You know,” he says, with a resilient smile, “it is a hard world for poets.”
                    .................................................. .......................


                    Zam Barrett Spring 2017 Now in stock

                    Comment

                    • Faust
                      kitsch killer
                      • Sep 2006
                      • 37852

                      #11
                      Originally posted by zamb View Post
                      I really think that Boris was and is to be the next Rick. he has all the tools...........
                      I myself wants to offer something, an alternative, but somehow what is and what ought isnt one and the same,
                      No designer can be the next Rick without designing womenswear. Raf is the great exception here, but even he didn't really come on to fashion's radar until he began designing women's at Jil Sander.
                      Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

                      StyleZeitgeist Magazine

                      Comment

                      • Nomadic Planet
                        Senior Member
                        • Dec 2012
                        • 229

                        #12
                        Originally posted by zamb View Post
                        I really think that Boris was and is to be the next Rick. he has all the tools...........
                        I myself wants to offer something, an alternative, but somehow what is and what ought isnt one and the same,
                        And LEB would be the next Boris ? :P

                        Comment

                        • zamb
                          Senior Member
                          • Nov 2006
                          • 5834

                          #13
                          Originally posted by Nomadic Planet View Post
                          And LEB would be the next Boris ? :P
                          I dont know if LEB is the next Boris.
                          I think LEB does a very specific kind of work, and it resonates with a very specific customer. Well, its possible for one to change (even though I wouldn't want him to) but lets see, maybe there are other designers we are not focusing on that will make a breakthrough.

                          Guys like Craig Green, etc
                          “You know,” he says, with a resilient smile, “it is a hard world for poets.”
                          .................................................. .......................


                          Zam Barrett Spring 2017 Now in stock

                          Comment

                          • ian+
                            Senior Member
                            • Dec 2011
                            • 746

                            #14
                            Boris can't be Rick, he hasn't proved he is bold enough for such a move and honestly I don't think he wants to. The thing for Boris is to become great again within the universe he has created. I may be in the minority here, but I find his last collections rather boring.
                            ...bombing the bass, blasting the beat

                            Comment

                            • Nomadic Planet
                              Senior Member
                              • Dec 2012
                              • 229

                              #15
                              Originally posted by zamb View Post
                              I dont know if LEB is the next Boris.
                              I think LEB does a very specific kind of work, and it resonates with a very specific customer. Well, its possible for one to change (even though I wouldn't want him to) but lets see, maybe there are other designers we are not focusing on that will make a breakthrough.

                              Guys like Craig Green, etc
                              It was more of a joke about X being the new Y.... :)
                              Obviously LEB is really different and his work is very specific , but somehow I assimilate it more with the work of Boris for ex., it has something really serious and rigid, a form of beautiful austerity (as opposed to Rick, which integrates a lot more extravagance in his work...)

                              Originally posted by ian+ View Post
                              Boris can't be Rick, he hasn't proved he is bold enough for such a move and honestly I don't think he wants to. The thing for Boris is to become great again within the universe he has created. I may be in the minority here, but I find his last collections rather boring.
                              I share this opinion. Boris work is more austere and more.... "conservative" maybe ??? his recent collections have indeed been more of a "slow evolution", ie a positive way of saying "boring" ;)

                              Comment

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