the following is a repost of a blog post i made when i briefly wanted to start a public wordpress back in feb '21... i think i only ended up posting one or two things on it lmao. i kind of can't stand the way this is written but i still think the content is interesting enough to want to put it on here

some thoughts on fashion

There’s a lot around the subject of fashion that interests me. The “trickle-down” theory that describes how elements – maybe colour or other detail – of the strange, often outlandish fashion on the runway will end up in ordinary fast-fashion stores, in a diluted form. Fashion on the runway is adopted by the highest echelon of society, and then the class just below them seek to imitate them, and the process continues all the way down the hierarchy. I believe the turnaround is about 2 weeks from an idea appearing on the runway, then being churned out by sweatshops in a much more wearable and cheap form for the masses. By the time the lower classes have adopted the style, the upper classes are seeking new fashions as a means to differentiate themselves. And so the cycle continues.

I also am intrigued by the phenomenon where fashion trends tend to repeat every 20-25 years, though they’ll have variations that suit the current era. Did anyone else suddenly see scrunchies pop up again out of nowhere? I can barely believe that early 2000s trends are coming back, but I looked at this list and realised I bought myself some cargo pants about 4 months ago. And there has been a definite shift away from skinny jeans in favour of “mom jeans”, especially if you look at the moodboards the kids these days are making.

so retro o_o

When I looked at fashion, I used to be typically conteptuous and dismissive of the ridiculous, over-priced clothes. The concept of haute-couture (high-end hand-crafted fashion) seemed rather silly to me; what a conspicious display of over-consumption. Over the past few years, though, as I’ve spent more time drawing and looking at pretty things, I’ve gained enough of an appreciation for visuals that I’m now much more inclined to look at the runway creations with wonder. Once you stop looking at the clothes through a lens of practicality and wearability, and start to appreciate them as an art piece – assuming you already see some inherent worth in art created solely for the sake of art – you see the amount of work and intricate detail, the exploration of ideas, the thought to the materials used, how the fabrics look and move and appear in the light, with the best designers pushing the boundaries of what can be created.

The best example I can think of is everyone’s current favourite avant-garde designer, Iris van Herpen. Her work is otherworldly, ethereal, and downright mesmerising. It makes me think of rippling sea anemones and plant cells, the intricate structure of sponges and the pleated gills of mushrooms.

To make it even better, designers often have mini-documentaries that capture the creation of the clothes. This shows how Iris’ dresses above were painstakingly made; watching it always gives me fleeting dreams of becoming a master craftswoman.

I truly love these crafting videos; I only wish they were longer. Here are the playlists for Chanel and Dior’s savoir-faires, if you find them as mesmerising as I do.

To close off, I present my recent favourite watch: the Dior Haute-Couture Summer 2021 collection. It’s truly amazing what can be created when the budget isn’t a concern. This 15 minute film is a brilliant and atmospheric way of presenting the dresses and seeing them narratively linked together around the concept of the Tarot. The shots at 1:00 and 5:08 in particular took my breath away. The expressions, the garments, the framing – it’s astounding; I have the urge to print out screenshots of these scenes to put on my wall.