The recent trend among cutting-edge fashion designers is, well, sort of unusual. As reported by The Toronto Star on March 2nd, models on the runways today remind one of a wispy woman walking down a street in Afghanistan, during the Taliban’s reign.
Although the world of fashion can at the best of times be pretty wacky-which is, after all, why we love it-it seems that this radical movement is more polemical than most. When most of the time we just enjoy the newest style for what it is, this one encourages us to ask questions: how did this particular trend come about? Why now?
An interesting perspective emerges when one takes into account that many dictators purchase their attire from these world-class designers. Case in point: the clerics in Iran, who often decry the western world as decadent, have a reputation for their custom-made Pierre Cardin robes. Along similar lines, many wealthy Arabs, who hail from societies requiring them to cover up, spend a fortune on haute couture to wear under their cloaks. Could it be that famous designers have been influenced in taste by their frequent exposure to their wealthier customers?
Probably not. The middle-eastern style of fashion has not changed much in the past several decades. Why would the fashion world choose now to cater to this customer’s wishes?
Fashion designers, like the rest of us, do not live in a vacuum. Their creative output, though coming from within, probably originates in part from the outside world they experience daily, at least in terms of their inspiration. So when what these creative masters see is darkness, isolationism, and repression out in the world, of course it’s going to end up in a new fashion line.
European societies are mired in problems-from bird viruses, to Mohammad cartoon riots; from immigration problems and headscarf bans in Paris, to kidnapped journalists and terrorist bombings. All of this is without mentioning the Iraq war. Even without it, the world is in fact a pretty dark place. It has not seemed lately like the sunny, skinful wonderland a fashion runway usually evokes. It would almost seem frivolous and disrespectful to represent a carefree, hedonistic attitude in times like these, wouldn’t it?
The most curious observation to be seen in this trend is the open-mindedness of these designers despite the high cultural tensions surrounding their stylistic influences. Kudos to them for allowing their social inquisitiveness, and affront to tradition, to run free in their designs, and in the world. If people allowed this type of non-judgmental attitude to be played out more often, we might be much further along in the world.
Perhaps one of the positive aspects of fashion design is that people are not as offended by cloth as they are by ink, and that they are more often exposed to clothing than they are to painting or sculpture. Fashion is allowing room for expression through an accessible medium without fearing censure, alienation, or a litany of other consequences. Regardless of one’s taste in fashion, this movement is something for which I think we should all be grateful.
