We are living in the transition phases of fashion and time. This transition is between winter and spring, the present and the future. Where walking into a store means seeing a breezy vibrant yellow Opening Ceremony dress littered with miniscule grey flowers on one end of a rack and a gigantic fur (preferably faux fur) jewel tone jacket by a designer such as Rachel Zoe, Carven, Burberry Prorsum or Diane Von Furstenberg hanging on the other end. While the yellow dress sparks fantasies about the bright days to come, the fur jackets envelop and ground us in frigid winter. This is also a time where it becomes confusing whether we should be wearing trends from the now mainstream 2011 runway shows or take a leap ahead into forward-thinking 2012 shows and ideas.

This brings up another very important topic: trends. The other night while my friends and I sat in a circle flipping through the French Vogue Collections wishing we had attended the prestigious fashion shows, The Devil Wears Prada played in the background. At its 2006 release, the film was regarded as the guidebook of fashion featuring clothing viewed as extremely luxurious and trendsetting; yet when watching the film, my friends and I were overwhelmed by the clothings’ outdated nature. Looking at the present, it appears we have no trends or looks of our own and instead borrow from past eras. For example, when looking at 2011 trend reports, “sixties minutes” and shift dresses from the 20’s are the first trends that appear. Even those who try to move forward and into the future create garments which are not their own. Take Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein. Although his elegant, simplistically architectural and futuristic clothing is phenomenal, isn’t it merely a prediction of what is to come, a copy of an imagined future?

Designers such as the late Alexander McQueen broke this stagnant mold. While his garments were inspired by the Renaissance and various cultures, his work was McQueen and nothing else. However, are we meant to follow the exaggerated styles of McQueen? If everyone designed, dressed and thought in this outrageous way, would McQueen have been recognized as revolutionary? Would thousands of people from around the world travel to New York to visit Savage Beauty, a show a the Met which celebrated his life and achievements?

When looking back at the 2000’s (which sounds so weird because we usually look back at eras labels the 20’s or 60’s or 80’s) what will we remember in fashion? Will we have our own style? Is this the path that every past era has previously taken in which a decade’s trend is not realized until it is over, or have we exhausted every bit of creativity and must continue to repeat what has already been done? As we have nailed the past and foretold the future, we have left out the present. As the New Year comes around, we must stop and take in what is now, instead of dwelling on the past and dreaming about what is to come.

choose your own present!

Noa