Vlada Roslyakova in one of the memorable ensembles of the Nina Ricci Spring 2008 Collection. This looks serves as a paragon of contemporary romance and fantasy, two visual trends we'll be well acquainted with this year.
This is the sylvan urbanite, The Female Ideal of 2008.
Some noncommittal remarks in regards to what 2008 brings us on the aesthetics front:
Enough for now. I'll have a lot to post in a few days when I can report back from Fashion Week.
- Showing a lot of skin is now passe, as it has been for some time in certain style circles. But now, thanks to shows like Gossip Girl, it's becoming clearer than ever to young people that high-end class trumps boobs & ass. Every time. I expect brands like Rugby by Ralph Lauren to profit immensely from the English prep school fashion movement. What's exciting about this look is that it's a bit androgynous & menswear-inspired for the girls, who can wear awesome pleated skirts and a kick-ass deconstructed blouse with peeptoe oxfords and look absolutely sophisticated yet playful. It's a look that carries an urbane irreverance, a recent and very relevant ethos led the past few seasons by designers such as Nicolas Ghesquière, Christopher Bailey, Miuccia Prada, and Marc Jacobs. In 2008, it will finally take off in the better & bridge apparel price point ranges. From there, it will trickle down to the Mall of America by late fall or so.
- In addition, the reinstatement of provocative couture presentations (see here) will again make people revisit the avant garde vs haute couture conundrum. Anonymity and erasure of identity will continue to tantalize in editorial and runway contexts. The L'Incognito shades (impractical and entirely taboo and therefore sure to sell well to art students & Gwen Stefani) will be huge, as will all the architecturally awe-inspring footwear available this season.
- Ideally, all girls should be wearing skyscrapers on their feet, Art Nouveau inflected frocks, sheer fabrics as often as possible, and explore escapist makeup, hair, and accessories. It's about being a decadent sylvan nymph this time around; it's bohemia 2.0 through the eyes of the Biba and globalist generations. It's unique and ambiguous, allowing for a lot creative license for progressive dressers worldwide. In addition, De Stijl prints will continue to feature heavily into the graphic & linear trend in womenswear. The Mondrian dress from DVF will become iconic (personally hope to wear it for my birthday).
- Belgian designers will continue to enjoy fringe success in the States, while quietly dictating 2009 trends.
- The 90's silouhettes, textures, fabrics, and color palettes will grow more apparent every runway season until Oprah/Eva Longoria/someone famous on ABC wears a look relevant to this trend, AND THEN IT WILL BE f**kING EVERYWHERE. Not just the flannel at Urban Outfitters.
- In music, diametrically opposed trends will perturb and inspire on both the niche and mainstream levels (now, of course, that's a greyer region by day). Because there is no centrality at the moment, lots of marginalized scenes and musical agendas will come into hyperfocus for weeks, months at a time, before drifting to the backburner with everyone else. I possess a dim hope that electronic music will make a little more inroads Stateside this year, but maybe that's because I just watched Daft Punk Alive yet again, and got all childlike in my optimism.
- In movies, slasher porn is over. Youthful, intelligent dramedies like Juno will become more prominent, and so will their soundtracks.
Enough for now. I'll have a lot to post in a few days when I can report back from Fashion Week.
5 comments:
Here in Europaland, all the babble about the Belgians is already hitting fever pitch.
As for the "showing skin" part... yeah, maybe that's true in some circles. But NOT, EVER in the mass-market. I'm not even mentioning the apparent perenniality (does that word exist in the English langugage?) of magazine like Playboy. Magazines like FHM already existed before their actual explosion in the late-90s (even if by other methods), and they won't go away any time sooner. The reason? We are all voyeurs, basically. So there will always be a big space for showing skin in mainstream culture.
The music part isn't anything new, really. It's been like that since, at least, 2003, and it will only grow more obvious as the decade approaches its end.
I can't comment on the movie side, for the simple reason that Juno still didn't premiere in this here country.
Slasher porn is here to stay. How else will studios recoup costs(from making said indie melodramedies)? Sure, they'll never register more than 3% on rottentomatoes, but they're as close to a "sure thing" as you can get in terms of ticket $ale$. Nobody can't mess with that formula. Besides, the next generation of b-movie stars have to get their start somewhere, right? haha. I do see the shakycam cinema-verite style coming back something fierce (I hear that new cloverfield movie is blair-witch on crank). So basically, nothing new. I suppose it all depends on what Diablo Cody spits out next.
As for music, I see house music making a comeback in some form. Perhaps as another last.fm tag haha. Indie prog? Indie House? (I just found out Richard Morel is on tour with fucking Hot Chip...so I guess anything goes). Either way, a forgotten generation of bedroom producers/pro-tools junkies might finally get their chance to crack the bigtime. I know much of my appreciation for pop music stems from years of listening to vocal trance, so it feels like a natural progression. Plus, a record seven long lost proghouse producers are playing Coachella this year. I'm still slightly slackjawed over that. Probably another sign of the apocalypse.
Hope all is well with the world/state of fashion!
slasher porn hasn't profitted in years! I agree that it is over. Also out: horrible US remakes of Asian horror flicks. OVA!
Hello!
Your blog looks promising, so I'm linking you on my blog. Since of course this is of massive importance, I thought I'd let you know...
Seriously, though, I hope to see more posts from you soon. After all, I need something to do while I wait out the continuing rise of the skyscraper heel in the safety of my room.
thanks, jealoushe! I'll add you as well
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