Forget the austerity look -- for spring 2009, fashion designers have unleashed their wildest fantasies.
It's that time again. Just when it has never seemed frostier outside, and the fashion follower has never felt fuller (read: unfashionably fatter following the requisite excess of Christmas), the spring/summer collections are dutifully arriving in stores. And if the economic climate might naturally dictate play-safe tactics on the part of the world's most accomplished designers just now, it may come as something of a relief to any fashion peacock out there that the opposite is, in fact, the case.
Dark, distressed and displaying at least a modicum of sobriety to reflect the times is simply so last season, it's not even to be tolerated. Instead, the message is loud, proud and possibly even dangerous: there will be shoulder-pads out there so sharply pointed they might cause physical damage to any unsuspecting passer-by who inadvertently brushes past them.
Fashion is a risky business, you see -- and what business isn't under threat at the moment -- but it's the risk-takers who are currently shining more brightly than those with more obviously commercial concerns.
That is not a bad thing. The point of designer fashion should surely be that it makes its wearer stand out in a crowd, that it is individual, innovative and creative on its own terms -- the more uncompromising the better. Leave it to the high street to translate such excess into everyday clothing. The international collections drove this message home: on the catwalks, the emphasis is firmly back on design over and above styling or superfluous surface embellishment. Radical pattern-cutting, pioneering fabric development, and ever-stranger trouser shapes -- with suitably bizarre footwear to match -- are all on the agenda, and they are not for the faint-hearted.
Escapism, too, is a buzzword. "In these hard times, dress up," read the notes to Vivienne Westwood's Paris show, and that could be the mantra for the season as a whole. Dressing to impress may entail investing in garments that can seem extreme to the point of madness. Their idiosyncratic character might lie in the silhouette (the more experimental the better), the colour (vivid, and sometimes violent), or in designer's use of materials (PVC or other polyvinyls, and enough sequins to make a showgirl blush might not seem like the most obvious summer staples, but they are all present and correct). Or they might be evocative of faraway and exotic climates -- they might speak of Africa, India or even, well, the Moon. The single thing that unites a disparate season is designers' return to their core values -- the Italians like to call it a brand's "DNA". So, if a label is known in particular for more overt status and sparkle than might, then its collection this time around will be even more status-driven and sparkly than ever. Conversely, if a designer name is famed for a conceptual approach to fashion, its output will now be more unashamedly ideas-based. Whichever way one chooses to look at it, while this summer will present something of a challenge to the minimally minded, it will be anything but dull, fashionwise at least. So, sit back and marvel at the bravura of these designs, safe in the knowledge that the world is about to become a bolder, brighter place to be -- if only in our dreams.
1. Jumpsuits: Despite any protestation -- and the jumpsuit has many detractors -- the garment is here to stay, and is generally about as immodest as it is possible for a garment to be. Think Catwoman. Or Emma Peel. Whether this impractical but scene-stealing look -- evocative of the qualities of a futuristic second skin -- is weighed down by amber crystal or, on the odd occasion, inspired by loose-fitting workwear, the jumpsuit is bigger this season than ever. But what the jumpsuit lacks in functionality -- anyone who has actually squeezed themselves into one can testify that getting out again might prove challenging -- it more than makes up for in impact. This is traffic-stopping clothing at its most extreme. 2. The new metallics: Christmas might be over, but dressing like a Christmas tree has never been more fashionable. More than a few of the world's influential designers have given a makeover to the sparkly sweet nothings that might, in lesser hands, appear -- only whisper it -- a little unrealistic. At Balenciaga, Nicolas Ghesquire transformed crin, a high-shine ribbon, normally the preserve of haute-couture underpinning, into the prettiest and most twinkling pieces imaginable. At Chanel, a flamenco reference becomes more flamboyant when iridescent -- picture a Spanish souvenir doll with the spirit of Liberace running through her. At Emma Cook, too, an opalescent effect is achieved by hand-dying fabrics, fusing a preoccupation with Art Deco with a futuristic, party-going mood. Lame, Lurex, Spandex... the list goes on. If a magpie might covet it, then it's the thing to wear.
3. Eighties: It should come as no surprise, given the "dare to wear" spirit of the season, that the decade that is ripe for revival is the 1980s -- in all its guises. Duran Duran color. Power shoulders. Micro-minis. Big hair. Even bigger hats. Topshop Unique's collection is as brash as a Bananarama video -- stone-washed denim, strong-shouldered boxy tailoring printed with candy-coloured motifs and more, all feature. Danielle Scutt is thinking Las Vegas pool party, she says -- flashy, trashy and proud. Balmain, meanwhile, is as big on irony as on highly sexed clothing. Sequins, shoulder-pads, legs going on for what seems like miles, and an eye-wateringly tight silhouette make this reminiscent of Azzedine Alaa and Dynasty, all rolled into one. 4. Underwear as outerwear: Underwear layered over outerwear. Underwear worn under sheer clothing, and so on display for all to see ... It's never before seemed so fashionable to make the most of one's smalls. At Prada, nothing more modest than the bra is a focal point, worn perky and a little sporty. At Christian Dior, the type of relatively sturdy foundation garments that characterized the 1950s are designed to be worn under dresses so lightweight that they are barely there. More big knickers -- this time boy shorts -- were to be seen at Tao. The aforementioned Vivienne Westwood, meanwhile, proposes that men's boxer shorts are the order of the day, for wear either in the evening or on the beach. There's nothing like a spot of versatility, in this particular British designer's opinion, at least.
5. Pattern-cutting: If fashion's holy grail has been to be able to cut garments out of single, continuous pieces of fabric, today, creating original volumes out of many small but perfectly formed geometrically shaped pieces or, indeed, creating one large geometrically shaped piece out of which the body appears to sprout seems to be the way forward. Circular shoulders steal the show at Dolce & Gabbana, and tiny rows of circles follow the seams of garments or cover their surfaces entirely at Christopher Kane. At Comme des Garons, black and white pentagons create garments that look not entirely unlike deflated footballs -- they give new meaning to the word fierce. Finally, leave it to Martin Margiela to work wonders with a circular collar that falls somewhere between Pierrot's and a flying saucer. 6. Novelty pants: Love them or loathe them, the not even remotely pale but interesting pair of trousers is gathering fashion points. This is remarkable, given that normally this time-honored menswear-inspired wardrobe staple has been flattering, first and foremost. That is certainly no longer the case. And while one might not unreasonably expect oversized designs cut to a length that is perhaps best described simply as "difficult" to crop up at Yohji Yamamoto -- the patron saint of strange trousers -- or at Comme des Garons, where harem pants reign supreme, it is more remarkable when these appear at Yves Saint Laurent and even at Chloe. Courage, mon brave. It's really not as bad as it seems.
7. Denim: Denim, the most democratic of all fabrics, is more commonplace now than it has been recently -- at designer level at least. Not that any old droopy-crotched skinny jeans will do. The current look is stonewashed, perhaps tapered or reminiscent of apple-pie Americana -- complete with frilled crust. House of Holland has collaborated with Levi this season; Giles Deacon with Lee Jeans. Leave it to the Japanese designer Junya Watanabe to be more creative with this time-honored fabric than any other designer, however. Watanabe's jeans are by now cult items and for spring/summer low-crotched faded versions will make anyone who wears their designer credentials on their sleeve very happy indeed -- as will vaguely Belle Epoque-line ankle-length denim skirts. 8. Make do and mend: Sadly, it is not actually fashionable to dress like a bag lady. There is, though, a make-do-and-mend nonchalance. Vivienne Westwood advises adapting any opulent home furnishings into clothing although it's safe to assume that it might not work quite so well should one try it at home. At Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs might encourage the long-lost craft of sewing one's skirt to one's sweater but, again, if the end result looks suitably DIY, it is entirely contrived. It is perhaps only to be expected that Dolce & Gabbana have taken this particular mindset to its extreme. Their collection is inspired by Visconti's epic The Leopard, if you please, and the mood is evocative of a beautiful aristocrat searching her palazzo for long-forgotten sartorial treasures from her own or any male house guest's wardrobe. It's safe to say that not many of us live with men who wear pyjamas that are quite so beautiful as these.
9. Retro-futurism: If intergalactic travel is unlikely to be on most mere mortal's agenda, escaping to another universe or indeed time zone might be more than a little appealing just now. There is, for the most part, a nostalgia to any vision of the future on display this season which makes it seem less alien than it might otherwise be. At Gareth Pugh the Elizabethan ruff scaled up to larger-than-life-size proportions and armor from that same period is crafted in monochrome materials that are anything but antique. Giles Deacon's techno-couture looks to the future through the eyes of 1960s Futurism, the now quaintly low-fi video game, Pac-man, and the graphic designers of the 1990s, most obviously Peter Saville. Hussein Chalayan has long been preoccupied with technological advancement and this time around is no exception. Printed with photographs of car graves and designed to express the effect that speed has on the planet's inhabitants this references the designer's own archive from the mid-1990s and all while suggesting a vision of things yet to come. 10. Color: Any woman brave enough to wear a turquoise trouser suit must be applauded. If she feels like taking this particular plunge then there's a suitably chic version on offer at Gucci, once famously purveyor of monochrome clothing but now much more Miami Beach in flavor. Versace too has long been a label associated with dazzling clothing cut in colors to match -- vivid yellow in particular will suit any woman with a yearning to play the ultra-beautiful canary. Finally, John Galliano has pushed the boat out as far as color is concerned with his signature line. It's bright, bold, kooky in a quintessentially British sense, and best worn clashing -- rose, for example, combined with flame.
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