Your recent purchases

[fredokin]

Thank you Zam.
It is somewhat discouraging as someone who's just got into fashion in the past few years...I feel that I missed out big time. I'm thankful for the strength of the secondhand market though (besides the scarcity of men's Chalayan)

[Faust]

Nice haul, fredokin! I'll sell you my Chalayan jacket - a real museum piece. No reason for it to gather dust in my closet.

Haven't been excited about a piece like this one for a while



Undercover

[gregor]

jun really does the best pop culture references. it feels like he just kind of pulled half of my music library and made it wearable. nice pickup.

[zamb]

^ real bad man ting!


Fedokin, those were some glory days
the period between 1997-2007 produced some of the most talented designer works, some of the most thoughtful clothing in some of the best fabrics around.

I personally thing several things attributed to that.

1. Designer Fashion houses before then was largely a mom and Pop/ family operation and people were doing it not just as a business but for the joy of it.

2. 1995 -2000 saw the rise of the fashion conglomerates and truly talented designers were given almost unlimited budgets and resources they never had before and it allowed designers like Galliano// McQueen// Chalayan // Ghesquire etc to create without the previous restraints that came with lack of money.

3. So much technology was not a part of fashion. Designers then actually draped patterns on a Body, Pattern makers understood the body in 3D and did not rely so much on computer aided pattern making to create Patterns

4. the internet was not as powerful, so designers in Belguim, didn't know what was going on in Paris or London and you got a sense of designers real ideas, developed on their own time in their own space rather than everybody influencing everybody or buying bullshit forecasts from trend reporters.

I am happy you are able to buy now, if you can find good pieces from tohse periods, especially from the conceptual minimalists like Lang, Chalayan, Margiela, Ann, Raf etc, they are possibly some pf the best pieces to own

[casem]

You know I've thought about why this is such a common remark, and I think it has more to do with the fact that things take time to sink in rather than fashion is just getting worse and worse.

I mean, 5 years ago we were complaining about how much better stuff was 5 years before that, now we look at that stuff from 5 years ago and think it's so great compared to what's out now (and I'm sure 5 years from now someone will be talking about the great collections they missed out on from this season). This makes the case that straight to market fashion is maybe not the best idea as something truly new can take some time to digest.

I know it's true for me, I remember thinking certain collections were wack when they came out only to think "wow what a great season!" a few years later.

that's one IMPRESSIVE haul
and when you look at these things from 10-20 years ago you know fashion is in a terrible state......

[gregor]

i think there's partially that nostalgia we have for a time when fashion was a bit more pure and talented, but at the same time i do think that there is every bit as if not a better argument to be made for fashion simply being a bit shite. vetements isn't chalayan, and won't be in 10 years either.

[zamb]

You know I've thought about why this is such a common remark, and I think it has more to do with the fact that things take time to sink in rather than fashion is just getting worse and worse.

I mean, 5 years ago we were complaining about how much better stuff was 5 years before that, now we look at that stuff from 5 years ago and think it's so great compared to what's out now (and I'm sure 5 years from now someone will be talking about the great collections they missed out on from this season). This makes the case that straight to market fashion is maybe not the best idea as something truly new can take some time to digest.

I know it's true for me, I remember thinking certain collections were wack when they came out only to think "wow what a great season!" a few years later.

This may play a role in it but for me i approach it from a different perspective.

there are VERY few ready to wear designers now who are making clothes with the kind of details and quality fabrics of 15-20 years ago.

I have several Ann and Margiela pieces from that period that i no longer wear and in terms of quality of fabrics, and the pieces themselves feeling substantial. there are obvious differences

If you even look at a brand like Cloak, from the early 00's, how many "Artisanal" brands now are cutting clothes and constructing them with the level of detail and construction knowledge that was put in those pieces?

What i see is that visible Aesthetic details and brand signifies have become the priority in fashion design now, so the emphasis is placed on that. hence the rise of Logos and prints and cut and construction plays section fiddle to that......

[casem]

^Sure, there have been big changes that contributed to more blunt less nuanced design (and everything else for that matter). And in any creative field there are peaks and valleys where either everything seems to coalesce and great work is abundant or things are stagnant and uninspired... but still I don't think everything is headed down the tubes. My point is that more than just nostalgia but hindsight might make the past seem greater than now, so we should look a bit harder at the "now" to figure out what's going on that we might be nostalgic for down the road (sorry that came out like a riddle) .

As an "artist" myself, I'm always trying to avoid going down the rabbit hole of the nostalgia and stay optimistic about what's going on now.

[casem]

I will completely agree with you the same bang for your buck isn't there anymore. I remember when I could save up to afford something that I really wanted at retail and the price was about what it would be now after 60-70% off, that's certainly more than inflation (blame the increasingly crazy markdown cycle I suppose).

Rick's construction seems to be getting increasingly complex (more and more mixed materials and variety of patterns in one garment) and the quality or at least consistency has gotten better while prices also went down (or is it just the poor euro this season?). Also, CDG always has complex (and brand new) patterns every season and their prices have stayed refreshingly stable, making them seem down right cheap compared to the ever inflating prices of most brands.

I have several Ann and Margiela pieces from that period that i no longer wear and in terms of quality of fabrics, and the pieces themselves feeling substantial. there are obvious differences

[DudleyGray]

My point is that more than just nostalgia but hindsight might make the past seem greater than now, so we should look a bit harder at the "now" to figure out what's going on that we might be nostalgic for down the road (sorry that came out like a riddle) .

As an "artist" myself, I'm always trying to avoid going down the rabbit hole of the nostalgia and stay optimistic about what's going on now.
...
I will completely agree with you the same bang for your buck isn't there anymore. I remember when I could save up to afford something that I really wanted at retail and the price was about what it would be now after 60-70% off, that's certainly more than inflation (blame the increasingly crazy markdown cycle I suppose).

Rick's construction seems to be getting increasingly complex (more and more mixed materials and variety of patterns in one garment) and the quality or at least consistency has gotten better while prices also went down (or is it just the poor euro this season?). Also, CDG always has complex (and brand new) patterns every season and their prices have stayed refreshingly stable, making them seem down right cheap compared to the ever inflating prices of most brands.

Yes to all this, and add that I think that if 2008-2010 was golden era for Rick leather jackets, then 2014-present day is a golden era for his boots. I have trouble rationalizing retail prices for Japanese products, though, even though CdG is still a good value relative to other labels.

[Faust]

^Sure, there have been big changes that contributed to more blunt less nuanced design (and everything else for that matter). And in any creative field there are peaks and valleys where either everything seems to coalesce and great work is abundant or things are stagnant and uninspired... but still I don't think everything is headed down the tubes. My point is that more than just nostalgia but hindsight might make the past seem greater than now, so we should look a bit harder at the "now" to figure out what's going on that we might be nostalgic for down the road (sorry that came out like a riddle) .

As an "artist" myself, I'm always trying to avoid going down the rabbit hole of the nostalgia and stay optimistic about what's going on now.

As a critic I am trying to do the same. But as an enthusiast, I am increasingly in Zam's camp. In particular, quality has gone down across the board - there is no slightest doubt about it. Partly, it's the sign of the times, as the casualization of fashion marches one, the streetwear and high fashion divide has been broken, and the consumers prize branding over quality. They are also complicit. In an interview with Guram Gvasalia, Demna's brother, I posted in the Vetements thread, he equates luxury not with quality but with scarcity. That's all you need to know about consumer mentality today.

Anyway, I am very happy that my purchase started a discussion and thank you for all the compliments!

[blackdeath]

i picked up this thamanyah gem in NYC for a steal.

[Pontifex]

Horisaki

RHHH007 HARD BURNT BLACK

[monster]

Long-awaited grail has arrived. One of the most gorgeous pieces I've ever handled, full of hidden, inner beauty, very "Japanese" in terms of aesthetics. Treated cotton, polyethylene lining, silver details, good dose of pure craftsmanship.

Taichi Murakami. Mountain parka.

[Faust]

Nice! Maybe his best piece.