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| St Laurent fall 2013: what's new |
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| Prada fall 2013: irreverant cool |
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| Givenchy fall 2013: ecclectic and chic |
Following
Hedi Slimane’s pastiche of a collection for St Laurent the other day, and the
pasting I gave it (along with sooo many others) I thought a comparison was due to
illustrate just how different it could have been, if he wasn’t simply mining
his own backyard for inspiration.
As I had
suggested, it wasn’t the influence that was the problem; there were definite
Grunge references in Dries van Noten’s collection the season before and used to
great effect. It was not a Grunge collection however, and interestingly, I
would suggest, neither was Slimane’s; this was simply a simulacrum.
Second time
round the block fashion revivals are nothing new, and neither are the forms
they seem to take, dependent as the are on some shared understanding of visual
troupes. Clichés abound; ‘Punk’ becomes studded leather jackets, ‘Doc’ Martins
and a Mohican haircut, tartan and safety pins. In much the same way Hedi
recycled a completely generic Grunge ‘code’ while completely missing any of the
subtleties (and realities?) of the grunge proper. Grunge may linger in the
popular imagination with reference to baby-doll dresses, plaid,
oversized cardis and big boots, but really, this is only part of the story that
neglects so much. Hedi- you have been inspired with what Grunge has become- not
it’s reality. “California-grunge?”- an oxymoron that could only exist in the 21st
century.
