WOMEN FASHION
Women fashion The young Belgian designer Anne Demeulemeester revels in the inky black that Kawakubo herself has now renounced in favour of newly transgressive colors – like pink. Sex and gender continue to be central issues in the cultural construction of contemporary fashion. But whereas Yves Saint Laurent politely combined seduction and subversion, designers like Jean-Paul Gaultier have upped the ante. “A woman, like a man, can be eminine,” insisted Gaultier, whose work travesties traditional gender expectations. His collection ‘And God Created Man’ featured the skirt for men, while ‘Wardrobe for Two’ focused on androgyny. As Gaultier said in 1984: “Gender-bending, huh! It’s a game. Young people understand that to dress like a tart doesn’t reflect one’s moral stance – perhaps those jolies madames in their little Chanel suits are the real tarts? I’m offering equality of sex appeal.” Gaultier was also notorious as the apostle of bad taste. “Me, I like everything,” he said. “Everything can be beautiful or ugly . . . I like different kinds of beauty.” He showed his strange clothes on unconventional models – fat women, old people, heavily tattooed and pierced people. When French Vogue went to Brooklyn to photograph Jean-Paul Gaultier’s collection of Hasidic fashions, many Jews complained.Women fashion His use of fetishism has been especially influential, epitomized in his corsets created for Madonna. Less obvious are the ways in which he has subverted traditional ideas of class distinction. Social class is no longer clearly defined in terms of fashion, in part because of the excess associated with the nouveaux-riches styles of the 1980s. The 1980s have been stereotyped as a “decade of greed” and “excess”.
Journalists have focused on themes such as the money culture, junk bonds, and status symbols. As it happened, the stock market crash of 1987 coincided with Christian Lacroix’s New York opening, and there were those who drew a connection between the two events. In her essay, “Dancing on the Lip of the Volcano: Christian Lacroix’s Crash Chic”, society journalist Julie Baumgold argued that “Lacroix makes clothes of such extravagant, gorgeous excess as to divide the classes once and for all.” The frivolous and theatrical look of Lacroix’s dresses – extended over hoops or bustles, and adorned with garlands, fringe and ribbons, in a riot of red, pink and gold, stripes, polka dots and roses, and costing some $15,000 to $30,000 per dress – seemed to signify a decadent society wholely abandoned to the cult of conspicuous consumption. The reality, however, was much more complex. Class distinctions were important in the 1980s, as they are today, but now the desire for status increasingly coexists with the desire to look young and “cool”, however this is defined by one’s style tribe. Even venerable couture houses have required injections of youthful style. Thus, in 1982 Karl Lagerfeld was invited to design for Chanel. Journalist Javier Arroyello credits Lagerfeld with being: the man who broke the spell of the Chanel mummy. He likes to picture himself as an emergency doctor who . . . rejuvenated the famous Chanel suit, the exhausted uniform of the grandes bourgeoises, through repeated shock treatments (he brought leather and even denim to the kingdom of gold-trimmed tweed) and intensive corrective surgery (wider shoulders, roomier jackets, a sharper silhouette that included even pants). There were occasional complaints that Lagerfeld had “vulgarized” the Chanel look.Women fashion
But sales Women fashion increased dramatically, and the average age of the Chanel customer dropped from the mid-fifties to the late thirties. “All the stuff before pre-Karl was so-o-o square,” said Caroline Kellett, a young English fashion editor. Innovative and iconoclastic, Lagerfeld wore the Chanel mantle lightly. He admitted that “Chanel has to stay Chanel in a way,” but he also stressed that there was room to expand beyond “those knit suits”. Drawing on influences from the street, Lagerfeld put his Chanel models in rappers’ chunky gold chains, big gold earrings, and the kind of skin-tight shorts worn by New York City bicycle messengers. The influence moved both ways, however. Some rappers have mixed baggy shorts and baseball caps by Home Boyz with combat boots by Chanel. “We have the Chanel combat boots now, which are more upscale,” explained one performer. “They’re also really easy to dance in.” Together with popular music, sports are one of the most important influences on contemporary fashion. This trend has long been evident throughout society, and can even be observed in, for example, the Mattel toy catalogue in 1984, the year when “Great Shape Barbie” was launched. As the advertising copy put it: “Hot new trend in fashion – aerobics,” adding that the Barbie doll looked “trim ‘n terrific” in her “trendy looking” athletic
clothes. The 1980s were indeed characterized by a pronounced emphasis on physical fitness – especially aerobics, jogging, and body-building – which had a significant impact on the culture of fashion. The trend towards more body-conscious clothing was as radical a development as the rise of the miniskirt in the 1960s. Whereas Dior’s New Look squeezed and padded women into an approximation of the ideal shape (and men were covered with boxy grey flannel suits), by the end of the twentieth
century women could simply pull on a leotard and leggings. Meanwhile, young men cruised through the urban landscape wearing lycra bicycle shorts and sleeveless undershirts. New fabric technologies provide impetus for fashion-forward styles.
Women fashion Along with various stretch fabrics, there are an increasing variety of “smart” materials that can do useful things, such as providing warmth with minimal bulk and weight. Today many designers in both Europe and America cater to the sculpted bodies of fashion trendsetters. It is, however, incumbent upon men and women alike to internalize the corrective aspects of fashion, and to mould their bodies into a fashionably muscular shape. As the culture of fashion has changed, so also has the fashion industry and the image of fashion. But fashion itself remains alive and well, always new, always changing.Women fashion