revolution in the air

from the sartorialist and the facehunter.

As an amateur fashion anthropologist, I like to reflect on seasons of years past. Street fashion has traditionally remained uninspired. If you trace the history of fashion design, you will find some designers, like Paul Poiret, who were surprisingly ahead of their time. He predicted avant-garde Japanese designers like Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamato while women were still stuffing themselves into corsets. Nowadays, with information traveling quickly through blogs, podcasts and the like, this is no longer true. Street fashion is on top of it's game, which is why blogs like The Sartorialist are ranked one of the "top 100 design influencers" by mainstream news outlets like Time Magazine. To me, outerwear gives a lot of information on the mood of the season and is therefore a very important piece of fashion history. Because a coat is something you are stuck wearing every day, it is less privy to moods and role playing. You may be feeling pure crap and stay in sweats, but your coat will typically remain standard for at least one year. I have noticed a big change in how people are dressing this winter compared to last, when everyone was military coat crazy. With the war on full force I was not surprised. This time around, there are many more deconstructed, sculptural pieces which evoke a mood of hushed rebellion. Listening to Bush's plummeting approval ratings has me wondering if this change is a national, nay, mutinational, expression of rebellion. Only time will tell. But fashion sure is a good litmus test of social mood, ain't it?