There is nothing that excites me more than the Alaia rack at Barneys (Actually there is but I said that for effect). He is just in a league of his own, he makes the best clothes, or at least I think so. The designs are detailed but minimal, nothing litters his designs without reason. They are just so incredibly well crafted and his technique cannot be copied easily, I think his clothes are worth buying because they are sustainable. They transcend trends and the quality is so high that you would never want to throw it away. I really can’t say that for many of the clothes I see (in terms of them being “worth it”, I get sick of everything so easily) but I can definitely say I’d never get sick of owning one of his designs.
What is the shape of fashion in the 21st century? How do circumstances such as climate change, food shortages, overpopulation, and media saturation affect people's choices in garb, and designer's choices regarding what to create? I actually wake up some mornings with questions burning my mind such as "How does Facebook effect what I'll wear today?" and "What might Barack Obama have to do with the length of women's skirts?" This stems from an actual conversation I overheard in my childhood between my grandfather and my mother regarding the economics of skirt length. They were trying to establish a correlative theory as we all sat by the pool getting sunburned. Yes, skirt lengths became significantly shorter during the Roaring 20's, a time of economic uncertainty but general excitement regarding stock markets, but they also became shorter during WWII due to material rationing. Meanwhile, long skirts were the status quo during the 1930's, when the economy could hardly be described as flourishing, and again in 60's hippie movement, simultaneous with the invention of micro-minis! There seemed to be no hard and fast rule.
Though it is impossible to establish those lovely GUTs (Grand Unified Theories) regarding something as basic as how many of your friends are on unemployment versus how much leg a lady is willing to show, one can certainly perceive the effects of the economy on people's choices in clothing purchases. Many an article has gurgled to the surface of newsprint regarding "Recessionistas"; "The Sudden Resurgence of Black On The Runways This Season"; "How to Buy Basics- with Style!" etc. A few months ago, Bill Cunningham's crackled voice waxed poetic on the New York Times' website over a photo montage of women on the streets of New York wearing their favorite classics, salvaged from the depths of their closets.
Certainly, for me as a designer it is a question of extreme pertinence to predict what demands consumers will have on their clothing. One of the most basic requirements involved in a human's quotidien existence can be as minimal and utilitarian as it can be frivolous and unaffordable. This relationship between form and function, durability and cost, style/"trendiness" and investment, is one of the challenges I find most exciting in designing clothes.
And with that, I leave you with a photo of melted ice cream in Central Park, discovered the weekend of July 4:
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