The Past for the Future

Designers are always looking to the past before creating fashion for the future. If you remember, in one of my previous posts, I had proclaimed my love for the history of fashion. From this comes my hobby of breaking down the fashions and finding references to past eras. It's actually become a bit of a habit. And when you think about it, it’s quite inspiring to see that these fashion leaders have been no better equipped than you or I in developing the skills to tackle fashion today and make a mark on it.

Yves Saint Laurant 1985, Gucci S/S 2011

Bergdorf Goodman 1963, Jean Paul Gaultier F/W 2012

Katherine Hepburn 1938, Miu Miu F/W 2012 

Vogue 1971, Just Cavalli F/W 2012

Prada F/W 1996, Libertine F/W 2012

Vogue 1974, Blugirl F/W 2012

What I'm willing to point out is that fashion lives in cycles, and that this is the nature of fashion. A huge part of the language of fashion has been defined during the 20th century; every silhouette, colour combination or material has a meaning that has already been established and belongs to a period of time, a specific mood or socio-cultural environment. A huge part of today's fashion lives from the reinvention of its past. That does not mean that newness in fashion is not possible, of course it is, the thing is to combine all the known elements of fashion into something new. Doing interesting things today is challenging, and I really enjoy seeing how designers manage to create something that can move us every season again.