Getting Theoretical: The Fashion Concept

Ach, where does all the time go? The entire month of September was spent in hospitals, which means that the only style I can comment upon are the semiotics of nurse fashion. (Lots of bright colors and loose lines, kind of like if Heatherette took a Vicodin.) I did have time to read all the big September issues of W, Vogue, V, Harper's Bazaar, and blah blah blah, not to mention all the October ones. All those brooches and jackets and tweed pencil skirts must have dulled my senses with monotony, though: despite absorbing all that information and all those images, the only thing I remember is Chloe Sevigny saying that her fashion concept for the season is prairie meets grunge.

Long past the ephemera of image and object, the fashion concept remains. The fashion concept is short, succinct, the perfect distillation of aesthetic into a few simple ideas. It's like conceptual art, only less boring. And it's much easier than it sounds. Remember in junior high when you'd obsess over your new look every fall? ("Hmmm, how about True Blue-era Madonna meets Alice in Wonderland?") That was fashion concept in action. Most every designer's seasonal collection can be distilled into fashion concept, which more often than not can be broken into components:

pop culture reference (for relevance) + historical period/setting (for depth) + something personal and/or obscure (for that extra bit of spice)

For example, Alexander McQueen can be pirates go to Tahiti on a S&M vacation. John Galliano: pirates go to Egypt disguised as Solid Gold dancers. Rick Owens: Pirates watch Solaris and get depressed. (What can I say? Pirates are very popular.)

If anyone wants to take a look at the spring collections and offer their fashion concept summations, be my guest.

Posted by Kat in Fashion Theory
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