Posted on January 06 2016
In the fashion world a lot can change, a lot is going on, all the time. When I grew up worshiping the editorials of Vogue, Harper's Bazzar and occasionally Teen Vogue, in the 90's, it was simple; you have 50-ish major designers. Donna, Oscar, Ralph, CoCo, Valentino, Laurent. You knew their style, thier techniques, thier preferred textiles, choice models, you KNEW them. They each had 2 shows a year and the heritage designers had an extra showing in Paris for couture. I could breeze through them, and I knew my shit, trust. Then, the introduction of our World Wide Web, and then the masterful Project Runway. Together, they blew the socks off of the secret fashion kingdom and everything changed.
Fashion was all of a sudden, overnight, cool. Like no longer an art saved for the few and select who appreciated it, studied it and lived in "that" world cool, but seriously COOL. People wanted to become "designers",wait ....whaaaaaa?" It was THE cool thing to do all of a sudden.
Oh gosh, logo bags, logo's in general, everywhere exploded and soon after the insatiable hunger for more starting with pre-fall collections, then resort collections, then pre-spring collections, the demand for fashion from consumers is driving a huge market of our global economy. This has made an opening for new designers to come on the scene, almost daily, taking on the runways, smashing it. This is great, it is exciting to have the fashion's royalty shaken up a bit, fresh faces, fresh talent, and just so much more to be inspired by.
Proenza Schouler won the first CFDA award back in the early 2000's, and another wave of shifting fell into place. There was this energy of new young talent, who would capture the attention of Vogue's Anna Wintour, creating a real Cinderella story. Two wholesome boys on a fashion mission, to make cool clothes for cool girls, fashion rock stars, who broke the mold and sold thier entire senior collection to Barney's after showing it. More fresh faces in the design world came, again, stayed, designed, added to the roster that I can not keep up with.
Then "The Blogger" happened to the fashion world. THAT is a whole other lecture. Once again, I welcome it. I can honestly say now my eyes scan the bloggers more than editorials, never thought that would be the case. Let's just say the "fashion rage" was in full swing and it was a party I was ALWAYS showing up to. Fashion is just everywhere, all the time, at your fingertips.
Nowadays, there is SO MUCH CONTENT. So much. Designs begin to look the same, the trickle down effect is so much more than it was growing up. Second retailers can immediately knock off a designers hard work and have it on the shelves at Forever21 before the designers debut their goods at Bergdorf's. All the designers are talented, yes, but that's if you even get around to seeing thier collection after looking at the major players. I can no longer breeze through the 75 designers line-up on STYLE.com and see every show from NYFW in one sitting. Nope, not happening because there are 289 on the roster alone. (Probably more, I did not fact check that)
My point is, that when a designer's vision is so fresh, clear, original, and thoughtful, it explodes. It's like "YES! THANK THE FASHION GODS!" I think it is so cool when the collection is presented and you can feel it, the fashion world "feeds" off of it and that's groovy. This is a quote straight from Vogue.com introducing this debut collection, that I am obsessing over, "We're all critics, but we love having someone new to cheerlead."
Who am I referring to?
Welcome, Alessandro Michele.
Gucci's new Creative Designer not even a full year has surpassed and he has burned his talents into my fashion heart. This #GUCCIGIRL, is non-schallantly undone, but lavishly detailed, which when something is in full contrast like that, I LUUUUHHUUUUV it. She is, so nerdy she is cool, meaning she is aware of herself and is proud of it, and that's always dope when you are just yourself. It is a lot to take in, from the eye concerning the mix of prints and textiles and textures, but it makes so much sense. The colors are rich, and have traditionally been un-popular hues, but when they are all paired together it's genius. I wanted to share my appreciation of his current vision with y'all, because as we know in fashion, it WILL change in a second, but for now let's appreciate his mastery!
#G U C C I G I R L
The #GUCCIGIRL reminds me of the classic icons who made this chaotic, blend of blooms, entangled with layers of delicate chains creating glistens of contrast. Hendricks dressed this way in ease, as you should too.
Check out how the seasons he has designed for evolved a tad. The looks have become more intense, as if on acid or shrooms. The whole aura and presentation is dead on, I appreciate that. I do recommend looking at vogue.com to see the entire presentation from start to end, here's the link for you too; http://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-2015-ready-to-wear/gucci
