Well, fashion month has come and gone, and how disappointing it was this season! It is a rare season when I find more to like in New York than in Paris, and that was definitely the case!
The sweater above is from Chanel, which was in general not very thrilling, but this sweater was cute! What I like about it most is the stitch pattern, which would be super cute in milder colors as a 40's sweater. One day when I figure out how to knit with colorwork I'll have to try and figure out a sweater with little planes.
Dries van Noten was at least sort of 40's inspired. I liked the mix of colors and textures as I usually do with Dries, but even so--it wasn't as good as last season.
Valentino too wasn't as reliably great as I usually find it. The collection was inspired by Africa, which was honestly a slippery slope into cultural appropriation territory. I thought the miniature African masks on the accessories was over the line. While I agree African traditional art is beautiful and worthy of celebration, I don't think Valentino struck the right balance between being inspired by a certain culture and just straight out ripping from one. The clothes were great, it was the masks on the accessories, the use of cornrow hairstyles on the white models, casting mostly white models for an African inspired show, and the mistake of using the words "tribal" and "primitive" to describe Africa. Also treating Africa as if it is one monolithic "thing", as opposed to a continent with many different countries and cultures. For more about this issue, read this article.
Anyways, overall I was disappointed by Paris fashion week. It seems modern fashion is getting more and more repetitively boxy, unflattering, and just plain weird for the sake of being weird. Bring back the hourglass! Here's hoping next season will be better!
Yeah, the Valentino line is not just pulling stereotypical elements of Africa... it's weird, too. I think "tribal" still works for African-inspired pieces though. Tribes are still alive and well on the continent!
ReplyDeleteI do wish other parts of Africa besides Southern and West Africa would be explored. I lived in East Africa, and much of it doesn't look like what people imagine Africa looks like, but there's plenty to draw inspiration from! You're right; Africa is more diverse than collections like this may imply.
It wasn't rather "meh" this time around, wasn't it. I like that airplane sweater, too, but would knit it with the planes pointing upwards or at least going vertically. There's something a touch kamikaze to me about so many planes all heading south in unison. ;)
ReplyDelete♥ Jessica