What do you believe?
Here goes nothing, my personal view: no, it cannot. The primary element of nostalgia is discussion, the primary element of discussion is memorability and distinction, and the primary element of memorability and distinction is being risqué. This is not a challenge to the reality and other views, simply what I thought of the cause, the consequence and the relationship to what we have today.
The majority here in Random Fashion Moments post Karl, Margiela, Anna, Yves, Coco, Hedi, and others, who are known mainly for being a controversy and a personality. Very little people would say Frida or Maier were a good memory. And I am talking about the higher top-to-middle fashion iceberg. I do not mean people like myself and some other members here, who have spent the majority of their lives working for the industry or simply spending all their free time on studying it.
The moments that stick to the mind are Testino’s sweaty men or Steven Klein shooting Kate dressed as a possessed nun for W, not Kim K by Carlijn Jacobs (I say this as someone who believes Carlijn is the best new photographer of today). The industry caused a brief controversy before by plus-size inclusion, but as the tight standards for models (mannequins) that we had for centuries got lowered, so did the outcome. Fashion and Luxury Fashion are different beasts, hence the title. Luxury Fashion was a narrative totally inaccessible yet desired by the majority, because Gisele was too sporty for an average human or Snejana Onopka was too skinny with their faces being too perfect. A symbol for striving and trying to achieve something that many may not, because they were born with less height, less money, worse metabolism and etc.
A lot of people back then if were not offended by this, they either did not care or looked at it as truly the model – an aspiration to achieve and something to put yourself into. I also wanted to be Daria Werbowy from Vogue Italia, despite back then being a 14 year old boy. I could not, but I wanted to: with the attitude, the allure and the dreamy mystery.
As the space became diluted by more brands, constantly changing designers, models, ideas, and more inclusivity, I believe that the extremely tight and heavy metal gates inside the world of exclusivity and “I want to be like them too” became rotating glass doors that are easy to see-through and are just as easy for any person to wander into. As much as we all, especially brands above all, want to please everyone, luxury fashion and appeal to the masses is the immovable object meeting unstoppable force: neutering each other and nobody wins in the end.
A separate question, but it does stem form the main one: what keeps you in fashion? Are you in fashion at all?
Personally, I am not except reading very select threads here or looking at 3-4 brands that I enjoy. I do not look at magazines anymore: less pop ones as 032c became too niche, featuring a rotation of random people I cannot care about as the rotate too often and I have no memory or idea of who they are… And big titles are extremely sad. I recently picked up Vogue US of this September as I went to the spa and it was the first time I spent an hour on a magazine. Later on I wished that I had not and Vogue remained in my nostalgia. The pages overrun by low-tier or mid-tier brands. The biggest amount of ad pages were by… H&M! 8!
The article on a home-kit for gut testing being the longest writing piece… When we a decade ago the least important pieces were about the best caviar or a view into the home of Lynn Wyatt. I feel sorry for everyone reading Vogue these days, because I feel just as much how your nostalgia and longing for the ultimate quality of the past has shattered.
Should the old guard exist? Should we accept that the time has passed and luxury became a victim of commodification and mass culture? If it is a niche now, where does it reside? I seemingly cannot find it. The old luxury has died, and the new luxury never arrived.
