Originally Posted to fashionculturesparsons.wordpress.com on March 5, 2014

It’s always Fashion Week somewhere, or at least that’s how it would seem. Over the past month, the Internet has been abuzz with the latest designs from fashion capitals around the world, delivering fashion-saturated images of glamorous parties, chic celebrities and jet-setting fashionistas directly to our computer screens – wherever we may be. The phenomenon of rapid communication is easy to take for granted – after all, we live in a society obsessed with instant gratification and high-speed connectivity. Yet the Internet has changed more than our ability to post selfies on various forms of social media; indeed it has changed the very structure of the fashion industry.

In her article, “New Fashion Times: Fashion and Digital Media,” Agnès Rocamora acknowledges that the field of fashion “is currently experiencing a redefinition of time… caused by the speeding up of the circulation of material and symbolic goods” (Rocamora, 61). Instant communication across great distances also results in the compression of space, which allows viewers to experience fashion events in any given place as though they were actually present. In an industry that is absolutely of the moment – and sometimes of the moment to come – the ability to share information and images with a global audience has had an extraordinary impact, expediting the cycle of design, production, and consumption.

As a public relations intern at Prada, I witness the importance of the media in fashion every day. It is my job to trawl the Internet for Prada and Miu Miu mentions and document them in our database, which we share with the headquarters in Milan. Typical mentions might include photos of celebrities at events, like the inspiring Lupita Nyong’o, who recently wore a pleated Prada gown to the Oscars, or a Vogue fashion editorial featuring shoes or accessories by Miu Miu. A couple of weeks ago, everyone in the office gathered to watch the live feed from the Prada show at Milan Fashion Week. It was truly incredible that an event like this, once inaccessible to the vast majority of the fashion community was available on the Internet in real time. We sorted through a great deal of publicity within the next hour as fashion bloggers and the press documented the event online. We even cited social media sites like Instagram and Twitter as mentions. I also compiled a catalogue of runway images for our record, since we had not yet received the official ones for the Fall 2014 line. It is fascinating to see firsthand the way that a brand like Prada relies on the media for publicity, and even more interesting to watch the rapid spread of information via blogs during these large-scale Fashion Week events.

Rocamora argues that we have entered the age of the information society, in which “contemporary society no longer is primarily focused on the production of material goods but instead on the creation and circulation of information, which has drastically increased with the proliferation of new information technologies” (Rocamora, 64). The immediate response from bloggers during Fashion Week is evidence of this informational currency, which is invaluable not only to the stylish followers of trends, but to their very producers: the fast fashion industry. Fast fashion is defined as “the retail strategy of adapting merchandise assortments to current and emerging trends as quickly and effectively as possible” (Rocamora, 66). 

To the everyday consumer, fast fashion is a convenient means of attaining the look of today, but the effects of this global industry are far greater than they appear on the surface. In her article, “SLOW + FASHION – an Oxymoron – or a Promise for the Future?” Dr. Hazel Clark outlines the overarching problems with fast fashion: “Styles – and moreover clothes themselves are being produced with shorter lifespans than ever before. Cheap fabrics, low salaries, and worker exploitation continue to be both the products and also the casualties of the fashion industry. But as the industry functions globally on an increasingly vast scale its implications are enormous and a growing cause for concern” (Clark, 428). Dr. Clark advocates for “slow fashion,” which challenges fashion’s reliance on image, presents fashion as a choice rather than a mandate, and questions the notion of fashion being concerned exclusively with the “new” (Clark, 429). These ideas sound good on paper, but I have to wonder whether they would actually work in our information society. If information has indeed become the main currency, and the desire for new information is constant, then it is unlikely that consumers will accept a slower approach to production and consumption.

As our most recent speaker, Dr. Ilya Parkins explained, consumerism has been so ingrained in our society that we believe that we need to perpetually buy new things. In times of disaster, Americans are encouraged to go out and buy new products to support the economy. During her lecture, I thought specifically about the Boston Strong movement following the tragedy at the Boston Marathon last year. The first response to the incident was grounded in material culture: almost immediately, tee shirts, hats, scarves and bracelets with the Boston Strong logo appeared. Though many people including members of my own family wore them as a symbol of support and resilience (we’re actually from Boston), I was concerned that we were supporting the cause at the cost of marginalizing the individuals who were actually impacted. A tee shirt might have made my family members feel better about what happened, but it didn’t repair the damage done to families who lost a loved one, or cover the medical expenses for the individuals who were severely injured. So the citizens of Boston were called upon to aid in recovery of the city’s morale through consumption, thereby transferring the responsibility of recovery onto the consumers. This is a prime example of what Parkins calls “consumer citizenship.”

Many people continue to consume in order to satisfy their desire to stay current. We live in a culture where the average person buys 60 new garments a year (Dr. Timo Rissanen). This number might sound excessive, but I have definitely bought a lot of new clothing lately, so I can relate. It was Fashion Week, so naturally I had to go shopping. Then it was my best friend’s birthday celebration, so I needed to get a new cocktail dress from Zara, and the story goes on and on. Lately I have become very concerned with the amount that I consume. I constantly feel that I have so many clothes, and nothing to wear! How is it that my entire wardrobe can feel so obsolete after only a couple of months? I’m certain that I am not the only one who feels like this, and that’s because the fashion industry designs it as such. So how can we break this vicious cycle of buying things we don’t need? We can re-invent clothing that we already own, or swap it with friends who will enjoy wearing it. There is also a website called swapstyle.com, on which you can actually swap clothes with other people by accumulating points. Lately I have found that by accessorizing my outfits with little pops of color, I can still look current while wearing pieces that have been in my closet for years.

When it does come time to go shopping, a great alternative to buying fast fashion items is supporting local thrift stores. As Dr. Heike Jenss discussed in her lecture on fashion and nostalgia, secondhand fashion is very much alive, and the way that it allows the wearer to layer time and place is actually in keeping with the current technological developments previously discussed in this essay. Nostalgia in fashion is another form of temporal displacement, yet it looks to the past rather than the future. Though it may seem that nostalgia does not fit with fashion’s celebration of the present moment, there are always elements of the past arising in current trends. This phenomenon is referred to as “retro-mania,” and seeks to recover elements of times gone by. These bits and pieces resurface each season, interpreted in different ways by contemporary designers.

One of the biggest trends on the runway this season is the shearling coat. Last winter, major brands such as Celine, Stella McCartney, Balenciaga and Acne produced their own versions of this bohemian style, reminiscent of the 1970s. Prada’s Fall 2014 collection featured several of them, oversaturated with bright hues to give the old favorite a new spin. I am certain that we can expect to see more shearling in stores next fall thanks to the successful marketing of these major brands.

I've also noticed a new trend this season: women wearing their coats and jackets over their shoulders like a cape, leaving their arms exposed in the cold weather. Of course, I wasn't the only one who noticed - Bill Cunningham posted a short video, “Unbuttoned,” about the trend on the New York Times Fashion & Style website (see below). He states that the trend is about having a certain breezy nonchalance in the cold weather, and explains that it reminds him of Hollywood movie stars of the 1930s and 40s, when it was considered to be enormously sophisticated to have your coat just draped over your shoulders. Such is the glamour of the moment, and it’s not always practical! Yet this too ties back to the concept of nostalgia, even if it is unknown to the wearer, it is the return of that Old-Hollywood feeling of sophistication that causes people to seize upon this specific trend. While it may look modern right now, one cannot escape the fact that this (or any) trend is also a way of interpreting and dealing with the past. 

This trend made an appearance at the Comme des Garçons show, though it was much more pronounced. The models, sporting sculpted hairstyles and reptilian green lips wore oversized men’s jackets that hung on their tiny frames like vast elephant ears. Their arms were not visible, and in many cases inaccessible. Over the jackets were thick, twisting ropes of wool, which prevented the models from moving their upper torsos. These created dynamic shapes that engulfed the body in soft, yet commanding contortions.

When asked to elaborate on her designs, Rei Kawakubo said that she was inspired by monsters: “Not the typical monster you find in sci-fi and video games. The monsters I have made have a much deeper meaning: the craziness of humanity, the fear we all have, the feeling of going beyond common sense, the absence of ordinariness, expressed by something big, by something that could be ugly or beautiful. In other words, I wanted to question the established standards of beauty” (Menkes, 1). Ms. Kawakubo’s statement reflects the idea of fashion beyond the boundaries of time and place, and indeed as a sort of shadow-self fit for the expression of human fears and desires. The fact that many of her garments are purposefully and defiantly unwearable only reinforces the reality that fashion has one foot in the world of function and the other in a world of fantasy. 

Will we see fast fashion versions of these couture “monstrosities” come this fall? I think not. Fast fashion brands don’t tend to specialize in avant-garde pieces, so if you want one of these serpent-like designs, you’ll have to pull out either your wallet or your sewing machine.

The Internet has created a platform for a global discourse surrounding fashion, in which an international audience can access valuable information at any time, from any place. These developments have allowed for dramatic expansion in the industry, bringing trends to metropolitan areas just weeks after they appear on the runway. Yet consumers should be conscious of the impact of fast fashion, and seek alternative routes stylistic expression. Though fast fashion is a fact that will not soon disappear, we can explore the possibilities of creating our own garments and buying secondhand clothing. We can enforce change by choosing to celebrate the old but good things, by giving them new life.

Bibliography

Clark, Hazel. “Slow + Fashion – an Oxymoron or a Promise for the Future?” Fashion Theory 12.1. 427-446.

Rissanen, Timo. “The Politics and Praxis of Fashion.” Parsons The New School for Design. New York, NY. 5 February 2014.

Rocamora, Agnès. “New Fashion Times: Fashion and Digital Media” in The Handbok of   Fashion Studies, ed. Amy de la Haye, Agnès Rocamora, R. Root and H. Thomas. London: Bloomsbury. 61-77.

Style.com. Comme des Garçons Fall 2014 RTW Collection. Web. 4 March 2014.

Style.com. Prada Fall 2014 RTW Collection. Web. 4 March 2013.

Unbuttoned. Dir. Joanna Nikas. Perf. Bill Cunningham. Fashion & Style, The New York     Times. 21 February, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/video/fashion/100000002727388/bill-cunningham- unbuttoned-at-new-york-fashion-week.html?playlistId=1194811622325

Menkes, Suzy. “Comme des Garçons: Knit One, Curl One.” The New York Times. 2 March 2014. Web. 4 March 2014.