That time of the year when I have defined my intention, started already seeing signs of manifestation.
Now on to making all those hours of watching runways, reading reportages on the state of Fashion and studying the MoMa's course Fashion as Design into use.
I am going to try and put my thoughts and intuition into fruition and reveal what the mood of he year will be. Never been following trends, but I love seeing them at their inception and letting my imagination run wild on the runways. Never like in the last couple of seasons, the runways have been a vivid pulse of reality, remember last year's the Women's March and the pink pussy hats.
I feel the need of a couple of disclaimers before I show you my way.
A) there's no outfit of the day, wear this, go buy that, I am only really really good at telling you the story and then friend like always and everybody take its turn. I am useless at making lists not boring, and there are so many websites that do that, for any budget, that I would be a needle in the haystack.
B) According to moi, I have learned to talk like Miss Piggy, there are really two trend setters in the world of Fashion : Miuccia, still in pole position since her nylon backpack and Raf Simons, because once a genius, always one. If you don't count Karl Lagerfeld that is, the kid is out of any human being league.
Cowboy boots.
They have a social connotation that exudes their practicality in rodeos, bull fighting and in How the West was Won. They are hard core Americana, they mean rugged individuality and adventure, gold, horses, desert, dust, they are rebellious and unconventional. The pivotal moment of their return was Raf Simons’ latest fall Calvin Klein runway.
For me personally they are not a repeat, it’s not a “come back”, I haven’t lived in the US long enough to have experienced James Dean or Patricia Arquette in True Romance, or Thelma & Louise for that matter, but the image of them looks so damn good in all those settings, that I feel the time has come to go for them.
If you have dem boots in your closet from back in your Thelma & Louise days, good for you, aim at the #30wears, infuse them with the new aesthetic of skirt suit and embrace them. If you don’t own them, like me, but crave them, like me, venture the splurge only if you strongly believe in them. Do the exercise of the three looks: if you can’t combine them with ease, and by that I mean don't feel costumy but comfortable in at least three different occasions, they are not worth the effort.
ADDENDUM
Sure enough, look who showed up at the GG? Talking about the preview of the mood for 2018
Robe de chambre
Wearing pajamas all day is not only an Instagram hashtag, it can be done with elegance and chicness. Miuccia has taken the elegant austere and understated Milanese bourgeoisie to a new level, adding feathers and repeating them for two seasons.
Alessandro Michele took the wardrobe of Mr. and Mrs. Chruchill in The Gathering Storm and transported it in the runways. The lush of velvet, damask, chintz, snakes, high teas should give you some inspiration.
How do you accomplish it?
Vintage markets and online treasures, explore Ebay for real kimonos, there are ways to keep it sustainable and recycled before wearing a knock off produced by underpaid, abused, enslaved, discriminated workers.
On this subject, I can’t refrain from discussing the Time’s Up movement, and the powerful statement that hundreds of women and men left for the books by choosing to wear black at the 75th Golden Globes.
It’s a stance, not a ‘fashion statement’, it’s an act of social readiness that uses Fashion as a powerful industry, it’s a political statement also, yes, it’s a byproduct of the times we are living, it’s an act of solidarity with all who have had the guts to speak up and denounce harassment, discrimination and abuse and with all the victims who deserve a voice, funds and to know that they, too, can speak up, fight intimidation and help stop unlawful practices of slavery and abuse.
There have been controversy around the movement that was launched on New Year’s Day, all the Joan Rivers (bless her soul) aficionados say that even if women are wearing black, they will be wearing see through lace and sexy corsets and provoke judgments. Honestly, what a missed opportunity to understand the principle that stands behind the movement. No matter the color chosen, see for example the “Green Carpet Challenge” that has been dominating the red carpets, it’s not the color, it’s not an attempt at censuring women and what they wear, on a contrary, it’s an message with a deeper impact aimed at obliterating the rooted practice of demonizing a woman’s (man) body. And watch it go great lengths, if only we have learned something from the pink pussy hats from last year’s Women March.
The time is up on homophobia, transphobia, harassment, racism, we are in a revolution where our voice is the most powerful tool. And our dresses too.
Oh and BTW, you’ll find me following the men collections next week from Pitti.