Freud failed to answer it, but this season, fashion came dangerously close to answering the question ‘what do women want?’
Wants and needs have traditionally been set at odds within the fashion world, with desire outranking utility every time. But this season has proved remarkable because it announces a departure from the see-saw nature of fashion’s calendar. You don’t have to pick a side, because this season, desire and utility are on the same team.
And there are no prizes for guessing what triggered this change of heart. In a recession where every designer is fighting for every dollar they can get their hands on, the game playing gets put to one side, simply because survival is a serious business.
Those who adapted – played it safe – received mixed fortunes. Producing recession-proof classic pieces is a gamble. Get it right, and you’ve got yourself a clutch of money-spinners to see you through another season. Get it wrong, and you risk being labelled cynical, or even worse, unimaginative.
Many big names chose to stick to what they know; Dolce & Gabbana did Sicilian-sexy, Calvin Klein favoured the American aesthete, and Prada made the headlines with snakeskin and 6” heels. This proved to be a wise move too: ‘business as usual’ translated as confidence and assurity, and the fashion world couldn’t get enough.
But this season has proved to be the watermark, assessing not only how fashion has weathered the storm, but what remains. The industry responded, not with an admission of defeat, but a radical rethink that is nothing short of a rallying battle cry: if you love it, wear it.
Previous years have produced seasons that have been so elaborate, so ornate, that it’s become increasingly difficult to tell where couture ends and ready-to-wear begins. This season, fashion’s big idea was not to go bolder, but simpler. Far from being a lazy re-hash of patterns and shapes, this was Fashion 101 – back to basics – not to merely pull in the cash, but to remind us of what’s truly great about dressing up. As if by mutual consent, virtually every designer took on those terms, producing collections that perfectly matched wearability with desirability.
That’s the important thing to remember with the classic and familiar shapes of fashion; the trench coat, the pencil skirt, the skyscraper heels. Everyone knows that a good basic forms part of your fashion five-a-day, but who wants to be regular when you can be fabulous?
It was this very principle that seemed to inform the basis of Marc Jacobs’ collection. Gone were the seasons heralding disco days and kaleidoscopic references to American History. Marc’s lesson this season was a master-class in the building blocks of fashion: a dove-grey overcoat, a simple A-line skirt and a goddess gown that was the final word in shimmering red-carpet glamour.
If the hallmark of a great artist is to do the simple stuff well, and the easy stuff brilliantly, then Jacobs reminded us of why he’s held in such high regard. The whole reason why his collections of mix-it-up fashion are so beguiling is because he understands the basics so very well. This brave new collection was a sounding bell, announcing that, for now at least, the fashion world would be marching to a very different rhythm.
Everyone got the memo, not just purists like Raf Simons for Jil Sander or Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein. Hannah MacGibbons working for Chloe provided a womanly spin on fashion’s new look, sending out reams of covetable clothes that were simplicity itself to wear. After years of tough-to-decipher trends and trouser-styles that need their own how-to guides, MacGibbons’ leg-lengthening trousers were a breath of fresh air. No awkward lengths or hard-to-master drapery. These babies were made with no other purpose in mind than to make you look good, and you’ve got to love that.
Another designer who got the all-woman angle all figured out was Stella McCartney. From her beginnings in the Nineties, Stella has championed clothes for women, by women. Being consistent sometimes wins you faint praise in the fashion world, but Stella has won both praise and loyalty for her dedication to making women look and feel great, and this season was no exception.
Her take on the classics was to revisit minimal fashion, but to make it breathe. Her series of grey jackets and coats formed the basis of a capsule wardrobe that you would actively want to go back to time and again. Learning the lessons from the minimal trends of twenty years ago, McCartney took on the mantle of ‘classic’ and turned its unedifying image upside down. It was all in the detail: the cut-away on the coat shown here makes what is a tried-and-tested fashion formula look brand new. No-one wants a hand-me-down trend and McCartney keeps us interested by adding layers of detail that dazzle the eye and warm the soul.
Taking a step back, this whole season was really about stirring the senses. It’s awakened fashion leanings that we never knew we had. If you thought this decade would continue the last’s obsession with platform shoes and harem pants, this shake-down goes right to the core.
Going back to basics is more than reviving the lost art of minimalism. This time around, it’s about a stripping back of the glitz and glitter and various other distractions that have come to form the voice of contemporary fashion. This season has re-ignited our closet obsession with style, true style that needs no signposts to alert us to its greatness.
This fashion ‘cleansing’ is more than skin-deep, it goes right to the heart and soul of what fashion is truly about. Innovation and grand design do their part, but desire, that simplest and strongest of urges, is what has historically provoked changes in fashion. The Georgians wanted simple, classical shapes to mimic their architecture, and so the empire line was introduced. The Victorians wanted drama and expanse but minus the sex appeal: bring on the crinoline.
It is this which drives fashion forward at its most basic level. Fashion’s latest about-turn seems less surprising when you consider that designers are just responding to what women need and want right now. We want clothes that can slot into an existing wardrobe; clothes that have purpose as well as beauty, and finally clothes that endure beyond trends, hemlines and headlines. Sometimes a girl just wants clothes that will be not a passing acquaintance, but a true and lasting friend.
Fashion’s new aesthetic is a song played in a minor key, but the melody is just as sweet. Going against everything we’ve come to consider as part and parcel of the fashion experience, the tempo has been slowed and it’s finally time to stop and feel the cashmere.
Far from being boring, this re-set has been the most exhilarating change in fashion for many years. This is fashion minus the ego, and it’s not come a moment too soon.