Mar 18th, 2017, 08:22 PM

Fashion as a Fortress

By Chelsea Sanford
Comme des Garcons Spring 2017 | Image Credit: New York Times
A reflection on the current millenial mindset, and its transcendence into fashion and modern trends.

The new age of fashion trends has become a resemblance of a modern day millennial army. A style of protection with features echoing armory, shields and other forms of reinforcement.

Image Credit: Youtube.com

As we assess this trend, I come to question its underlying motives. Is fashion showing us signs that the next revolution that is about to dawn is due to our unstable world? Could this be a movement derived from the repetition of history, or a reflection on our current political, economic and social instability and turmoil in our world?

The trend in garments displayed by designers in the last Fashion month could be a return to movements of political and civil unrest of the 60s and 70s. As the struggles and frustrations that come with the strive for equality and human rights are again a topic of controversy. History teaches us the importance of such values through fashion, attire being the ultimate medium of communicating such efforts in the last 40 decades.

Image Credit: WWD.com

Louis XIV of France was the epitome of opulence and extravagance and defined his control through dress code laws, where only the bourgeoisie were permitted to wear certain types of fabrics and specified colored clothing. This caused unrest amongst the lower socio-economic groups and eventually in a mixing pot of events resulted in revolution.

In the 1950s the Civil Rights Movement saw women standing up for equality and using dress as a form of protest. African Americans wore bright colored African fabrics in order to overtly showcase their heritage and stand up for equal rights.  

William Turner said, “dress is more than mere objects and materials people put on their bodies. Dress can be a sign or symbol that refers to or stands for meanings not inherent in the material or object. The physical body when dressed reflects the social body or surrounding societal system.”

Today, the instability, lack of structure and the distrust of government is now reflected and mirrored in haute couture designs showcasing items as oversized breastplates almost like suits of protection.

Image Credit: New York Times

Comme de Garçon's Spring Summer 2017 Collection had an apocalyptic ambience where alien-like models were dressed in oversized dark colored clothing. The clothing held a symbolic feel of enclosing and encompassing the models and some of the pieces resembled tartan-patterned material with army like features.

Image Credit: New York Times

Today we have many new ways of defining gender, sexuality and race, and should continue to embrace the notion that our differences are what make us beautiful. Society is searching for order and unity and perhaps fashion is commenting and predicting on the future, unless we were to witness drastic changes.

Millennials in 2017 are handed down a broken political system that is in dire need of reform, just like in the late 1950s. Yet, in this moment of societal reversal, we have a choice to make: to be inspired from the hippies of the 1960s and 70s, who embraced each other with empathy and love, or to succumb to the spirits of previous generations, that have chosen, for decades, hatred and war as solutions, possibly taking our future not as seriously as they should have. 

“Fashion is a part of the daily air, it changes all the time, with all the events. You can even see the approaching of revolution in clothes. You can see and feel everything in clothes” – Diana Vreeland