FASHION.
ECONOMY.
Let's PARTY.
Economics are linked with fashion for the obvious fact that money sponsors designers and money buys clothes. Clothes are never necessarily equitable to fashion but in the filter-down-system that is made even quicker today by sell-outs, collaborations and most likely secret-agent spies, your favourite look from the Margiela collection last month should be available in all it’s cheap, watered-down genius glory at your local H&M within weeks.
Fads and trends work on a bell curve, waxing and waning as the styles become mainstream and thus fizzle out. According to Laver’s Law developed in 1937, a trend doesn’t become appealing again until 50 years after it’s original time. This would explain how forty years on, the 1970s bohemian look made a return to our consciousness during the weekends of mid-June in which starlets and models go to Coachella, an outdoor music festival in California. This year, the tastemakers present donned flower crowns, billowing white blouses and braided sandals as a nod to the times of Thea Porter and Pucci.
Designs are thus a signaling device used by analysts, historians and clever journalists such as myself to interpret the times we live in. From the seemingly mundane street wear of the masses to the elaborate concoctions of the night crawlers, what we wear has a lasting impact on the way we are remembered as a society. Dress determines gender, religion, class and caste in cultures across the world. The most fascinating aspect of it all is how dress unifies us as a collective, stylised by the society we dwell in. If we suffer from a recession, even the wealthiest of us dress accordingly. Young creatives respond to economic deficit through a celebration of hi-lo culture.
When Glyn Fussell, half of the creative duo behind performance troupe Sink the Pink, explained the economic climate around the time of their start to the Independent, he said "we are deep in recession with a Conservative government at the helm. All of a sudden it's a grey day, so people really want to express themselves and celebrate otherness”. This has been evident over numerous decades over the past two centuries.
As the political climate shifts, it takes along the economy and popular fashion styles with it. Analysing the economics of a time period allows for explanation of an observable phenomena, in this case fashion trends. For those who believe lamé in the 1970s and linen in the early 1990s were just happenstance, it’s time to look closer.
Post-WWI gave rise to the so-called ‘Bright Young Things’ or socialites of the 1920s. By grandiose throwing Gatsby-esque bashes and the media’s constant reporting on their drinking and drug taking, these young people were celebrating something they didn’t even understand. In the lead-up to the Great Depression in 1929, the Bright Young Things chose to party the pain away. Responding to the unemployment and general strife after a childhood full of fear, the young things were lashing out against the hand dealt to them. The subjects of Cecil Beaton’s early works later served as inspiration for the Blitz nightclub which opened in London in 1979.
The story of Cabaret, a story about a young girl and a nightclub, is set-in pre-war Berlin in the 1930s and has since seen many reincarnations. The 1972 film Cabaret (inspired by the 1966 original Broadway musical of the same name) starred Liza Minelli in the lead role and instigated the generation of original club kids for it’s nod to the glamour of the underworld. It was originally set to serve as metaphor to the menacing politics of Weimer Germany but has instead given insight into the economy’s effect on the party scene and the outfits that come with it. The show is still running today with Sienna Miller and Emma Stone recently stepping into the lead role.
New York’s Studio 54 a hotspot tantamount to nothing else but the Sun in the universe that was celebrity, artist, musician and all-around important figure haunt of the 1970s. A decade now associated to glitz and glamour thanks to recent glossy coffee table books published in the clubs’ honour was in fact on it’s way to another depression. When the Conservatives returned to office in the UK in 1970, trade unions began to strike and thus set off a complete economic breakdown and the three day work week in 1973-74. Again, lavish parties ensued.
As things worsened during the 1980s in London under Thatcherist rule, recession entered the household vernacular. Enter the DIY revolution of fashion. Design students at Central St. Martins Alexander McQueen and John Galliano picked up on the all-importance of partying to stay sane during difficult times. Galliano’s first collection upon graduation was titled Les Incroyables and was inspired by the French Revolution. His latest appointment as the head of Maison Martin Margiela sees him follow in the footsteps of the houses’ avant-garde and unconventional namesake.
Today, we also see the light at the end of the long tunnel of the biggest recession the world of economics has yet to overcome. Politicians vying for the most revered seat in Parliament promise reform and aid to the struggling young adults in this country. The most influential designers today from J.W. Anderson to Oliver Rousteing are largely very young and take great interest in the youth scene. Hemlines are short and inhibitions are low. We’re heading into the biggest party this country has ever seen depending on the upcoming general election outcome.
Remember, what goes up must come crashing down and vice versa. The industry will never die and will therefore be in a constant state of reincarnation, of rebirth.
Sink the Pink describes themselves as a family hosting a "ridiculous gay, drag, queer, FUN party for all!". Whatever you wear or say goes. This is the future.
The Hemline Index was created in the 1920s by economists who noted (even then) that the popular length of a woman’s skirt is directly representational of the economic well-being of the time.
All images found online
