While fashion trends usually cycle back and reform from old trends, the future is limitless and unknown. Some enterprising designers not only see the future coming, but make the future of fashion happen.
They shake things up and get us thinking about not what fashion is, but what it can be. They ignite a cultural revolution. Who were they and what does our future hold?
Boundaries Need Breaking
You can’t move forward without doing something new. While the public might take things a step at a time, fashion designers take giant leaps. The eccentric fashion concepts that walk down the runway probably won’t be coming to a store near you, but they might inspire what will. It’s all about testing the boundaries first and making it palatable second. Why limit creativity?
Fashion Revolutionaries
Alexander McQueen
“I use things that people want to hide in their heads. War, religion, sex: things we all think about but don’t bring to the forefront. But I do and I force them to watch it.”
It takes a brave designer to introduce something new and Alexander McQueen was fearless. His savage fashion designs and performances shocked and amazed. They tore open the curtain and revealed a dark world of not only fashion, but politics, technology, and emotion beyond.
In spite of – or because of – McQueen’s view of fashion as a ‘shallow’ and ‘fickle’ industry, he often broke new ground using taboo designs. From 1995’s “Highland Rape” to 2004’s “New Beginnings,” Alexander McQueen always followed his own mantra.
Coco Chanel
“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.”
When corsets were commonplace, Chanel introduced the little black dress. Although we might take it for granted now, the LBD was an important movement in women’s fashion, not to mention a little scandalous. It says a lot that it is still a wardrobe staple today.
No longer would women’s clothing be a way of restricting them. Black would no longer be reserved solely for the mourning. Instead, it would empower. The modern, independent woman of today owes a lot to Coco Chanel.
Yves Saint Laurent
“Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it.”
Where Chanel feminized the dress, Saint Laurent focused on smoking jackets and power suits. What was once reserved for the masculine empowered women who had higher aspirations.
He was a true champion of diversity and equality in fashion. His androgynous suits gave feminists a platform in the fashion world.
His influence is still being felt today even as certain industry problems persist. Oh, and the power suit is back in fashion today. That’s some appropriate timing.
Emilio Pucci
“Gaiety is one of the most important elements I brought to fashion. I brought it through color.”
The Prince of Prints. He brought colorful designs to the table and was emblematic of ‘60s psychedelic fashion.
Pucci showed that the cloth is just as important as the cut. He pulled inspiration from across the globe and from the very fabric of culture. From exotic locales like Africa, Asia, and the Middle East to rock music and pop art. His clothing was as eclectic as his taste and influences.
His fashion was art.
Rei Kawakubo
“The more people that are afraid when they see new creation, the happier I am.”
The Japan designer is always looking for what’s new. The Met had an entire exhibition of her work. She’s only the second living designer to receive that honor (Yves Saint Laurent is the other one).
Her aggressive transformation of the female form through bulging designs spoke directly against the trend of skinny female sexualization. Like Coco Chanel, the reinvention of the color black played a large part in her legacy. Kawakubo’s use of black made a statement at a time when vivid color was the norm. Black became fit for the rebels of the fashion world.
She is an artist and a fashion rebel if there ever was one.
