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String drama magic, is that what fashion is made off?

I suppose the thought started at the 30 year celebration of Makeup for Ever. The party was full of the extreme glamour of drag with hair that defied Dusty Springfield. It was my party of the season with the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower looking like a huge diamond earring and the endless champaign glasses like perfect false nails. I started to wonder wether the loss of drama in fashion with the return (again) of the nineties and the tightening of purse strings, was yet another cycle of change or a loss of creativity in favour of the fashion dollar. The thought played in my head as I watched the pure white medieval origami nuns with handbags on Issey Miyake's runway, and Junko Shimada lit it up further with her etherial deep sea jelly fish dresses. I carried on thinking through the beautifully packaged dare to wear red of the Comme des Garcons show and then Junya Watanabe reinforced it in his own inimitable way with happy plastic graphics. Their use of sculptural design and unexpected materials combined with fabrics took us right back to "Throw Away Fashion", the discovery of the affluent 1960's, when plastic mini skirts and paper dresses flooded the scene with carefree design not based solely on economics. We however seem to live an an endless economic crisis but then this was the precise moment when punk decided to rear it's controversial head. The 1970's gave us a series of the worst downward spirals since the depression with the earth shattering oil crisis being just one of them. Punk was throw away in a very different style using destruction slogans and black plastic bin bags to provoke change, which it did everywhere not just in the United Kingdom. This is the spirit that gave us Jean Paul Gaultier and his first show in 1976 at the height of Punk. The man who shook Paris fashion by it's heels left the ready to wear scene with this season being his last. Even Comme des Garcons has newer lines which although have the creativity of the main line are perhaps coming from a different philosophy than Rei Kawakubo. Noir and Andre Walker have joined the umbrella. I believe that great design can come from anywhere only lets not loose the possibility of the moon boot and replace it with an endless runway of regurgitated ideas. If we see the 1960's reappear one more time on the catwalk we could all blow a gasket. Oh by the way, what do we think of Galliano as the creative director of Maison Martin Margeila?



See Images
Review & Photography Antonia Leslie
Make up forever Photography Sylvie Vaulet
Make up forever
Issey Miyake
Junko Shimada
Comme Des Garcons
Junya Watanabe
Jean Paul Gaultier
Noir Comme Des Garcons
Andre Walker
Maison Martin Margiela


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