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In the latest issue of Interview, Peter Brant II (HEY LETS TRADE LIVES, KTHXBAI!!!) sat down with Daphne Guinness, and amongst a buttload of other totally interesting things, they discussed the state of Fashion. Daphne, obviously unimpressed by anything in the fashion world these days, said "There hasn’t been anything real since grunge,"
I was all like "GURL BYE!!"
But then, upon further examination of her entire statement:
“There hasn’t been anything real since grunge. That was the last movement led by music or an art form.”
I realized that she might actually be on to something....Grunge was the last fashion-wide movement that was inspired by something important in the world.
Every decade had a Movement, some even had two: The70's Disco duds, the 80's CdG worshipping and Powersuits and the 90's with its Calvin Klein style Minimalism and "Grunge", todays fashion just seems to be a reminiscent hodge-podge of all of that.
Given this being "The Age of the Internet" and the extremely fast pace we receive information (and the even faster pace we deem it "old news") coupled with the fact that most fashion "movements" were a reaction to the things happening in the world (The 60's happened in reaction to the political problems and frustrations with the war, the 70's were inspired by the feelings of opulence and "new money" coming out of those wars and the 80s' fear of under-dressing turned in the 90s' fear of overdressing) I think it would be nearly impossible for a "movement" to catch on today.
In today's fashion world, 100's of different "movements" are coexisting and hardly any of them are new, just recycled ideas of something that already "happened". On one hand I believe this to be an awesome environment for up-and-coming designers to come into their own in. With no definite "movements" or outside influence telling them to "DO THIS/DO THAT/THIS IS COOL RIGHT NOW", designers can put their own spin on previous movements, play with ideas and experiment enough and get it wrong enough to get it right and find their voice. But on the other hand I see our infatuation with recycling the past as a being a bit of a problem 10-20 years down the road when we look back to assess this generation and what ,sartorially speaking, made us as a generation.
What will we be remembered for?
I really hope we don't end of being "The Generation of Uggs and Pajama Jeans"