Fashion at the moment is making me feel my years. No really – all of the weight of 23 years which relatively speaking is barely old at all. Yet there it is. I don’t like to say that fashion is ageist as I believe that it’s the attitude not the age that dictates what you wear but if we’re honest, spring summer 2007 is exhuberantly, and perhaps for some people scarily youthful. The spring summer collections are reflecting a certain state of mind. To use the by now sickeningly over stated buzz phrase ‘nu-rave’ which will probably leave some of you cold, I am already seeing hordes of people take to it like a duck to water. When high street stores like Topshop, H&M and New Look devote entire rails or even sections to loud as you like prints, neon tanks and leggings with kitsch-cute clothing, you know something has properly arrived in the mainstream. Entire magazines dedicated to the subject of nu-rave and what were under the radar club culture personalities who are now almost celebrities in their own right. I can’t think for the last few months what magazine have I picked up that DOESN’T contain something that goes with the groove of nu-rave.
What I think is happening and this is just a bone in the air, as people somehow revert to wearing all things naff and tacky, by referencing pop culture in our dress and genuinely ‘playing with clothes’ (that’s actually literal since I’ve seen people with necklaces of McDonalds toys and soft toy bracelets), it comes from the desire to grasp at youth. If you are young, then it makes you feel like you’re age appropriate, doing the reckless fashion thing, not conforming (even though people may not realise they actually ARE conforming). If you are not, then it could well be a case of Peter Pan Syndrome, (something I’m quite familar with hailing from Hong Kong, a place where 50 year old women still wear cartoon t-shirts and short shorts), where you don’t want to ever grow up. In the social and financial situation that more and more British people are facing – rising house prices, higher levels of taxation, longer working hours, longer working years, nobody is eager to face the real world and so to the irreverance of nu-rave fashion we go. This is just a theory as I’m sort of suggesting that the garments in question isn’t the main point of focus but rather it’s the energy, the kind of sense of abandon that people are craving and more than happy to embrace.
At the Jean Charles de Castelbajac AW/06-7 show, you could feel that energy bouncing off the walls of the salle in the Carrousel du Louvre. Even before the show began, as you saw the whole Super Super clan walking around (it was very amusing to see the shocked faces on some of the more elderly fashion press there), you could feel it. As the sow started and Hypnolove began their live set, models strutted down in loud prints, in furry Muppet costumes, plenty of sequins and neon and of course a ton of pop culture references, you could see this was the best of JCDC instilled into a collection. More to the point, in the front row, steely women clad in chic black were sort of smiling and bopping along to the music. Now of course I could never imagine them wearing any JCDC but perhaps they appreciated the youthfulness of it all, the sentiment.
So my thoughts are that what is causing all the major buzz about nu-rave, pop fashion and cartoon excessiveness is quite possibly, the feeling it gives off. The holding onto youth in these uncertain times. Perhaps me reading into it all on a social context is too much and I don’t deny the clothing itself is not at work here and is not appealing by itself but at the same time, I can’t explaing why suddenly some neon tights have ended up snaking its way into my wardrobe or why I’m loving Kokon To Zai‘s own label at the moment. Everything in moderation for me of course. It could be the increased prominence of everything but it could be something a bit more latent than that, something in the psyche of nu-rave.
i definently agree with you about spring/summer being youthfull, but for some reason i found the collections that are usually so youth-y (for lack of a better word …hah) went the way of maturity for fall 07…like stella mccartney and miu miu..i could be wrong though…
anyways, keep up the great work ! i love your blog ! actually, you’ve inspired me to start my own. i’ve linked you on my page and would love you to do the same as i kind of look up to you and your blog…haha
and the picture of you on facehunter was fantastic!
maybe the 90’s are coming back?
I’m actually seeing a little Bronx 80s thrown into the mix in the pic of those 2 girls.
I’m sorry but fashion is ageist and to be quite frank someone working the whole Cassette Playa, full on neon thing in her late 30’s or 40’s would just look ridiculous, regardless of her attitude. There’s being youthful and then there’s being desperate to cling to youth, and therein lies the difference.The whole nu-rave/pop-culture/80’s thing has become so popular among people in their teens and 20’s because they don’t actually remember it first time around, so it’s new and fresh to them, but to those of us who were wearing it in the 80’s, it’s done, it’s old and most of us have no desire to revisit it. You can do neon tights because you are young (believe me, 23 isn’t old – it’s gloriously young!). But you are right about the reasons why people might wish to remain youthful – because in all honesty getting older really sucks!
I agree with most of what you’re saying but I don’t think the defining factor is youth. As you say, they’re many pressures around us at the moment (the political climate, the price of housing, unemployment…etc) and what I think “Nu-Rave” allows people to do is to take the piss out of themselves. When fashion is often taken so very too seriously a trend has come along where people can finally poke fun at themselves- I, personally, love it. I think it’s a real breath of fresh air and what a lot of people forget is that it didn’t start on the catwalk, “nu-rave” has been bubbling up for a while.
Anyway! There’s my 2p’s worth!
You bring up some interesting points. Youth, I think, has always been a commodity that fashion has traded in. I think that the popularity of “Nu-Rave” has to do with a rejection of capitalist fashion, the uber-coporate luxury conglomerate aspect of fashion that continues to grow in dominance. For me, “Nu-Rave” is a reminder that true fashion trends (70’s hippie, 60’s mod, 80’s pop, hip hop, etc) has always originated from the street, based on what artists, subversives and other members of “sub-culture” has been wearing. To me it is a fresh reminder to the fashion establishment that no matter what they dictate to masses as the next big thing, creativity is still originating in the underground. Jeremy Scott in this week’s NY Times said it best: I make fashion to provoke, to make you smile, whatever,‚Äù said Mr. Scott, who is ranked No. 31 on The Face magazine‚Äôs list of the most influential people in fashion. ‚ÄúIt can‚Äôt just be about consuming goods.‚Äù
There is a lot of psychology involved in how we dress. Studies show that people actually want to dress to the norm of the group they identify with. I think many people identify with an attitude more than an age, so some older people will dress according to a youthful attitude.
Of course all of it is affected by what is happening in the culture economically, socilly, politically. The anthropology of fashion is one of the things that make it so cool.
I think first of all, it’s easy when you are in London/Paris and the ‘scene’ to get trapped in this bubble and think ‘oh my God, this is what everyone is thinking’ but it’s not. It’s still such a teensy tiny small amount of how people dress and an indication of how society feels. I know if you go to Boombox or hang out in certain parts of london it feels overwhelming but i don’t think it’s normality. Second, this is a trend largely propagated by the ‘youth’ (or yoots as i affectionally refer to them) and i think that it shows. A large part of it, is still about dressing ironically. Dressing in colors that were previously defined as ‘ugly’ or playing like you said susie, with toys and redefining what can and cannot be worn. But i think it’s a pretty fine line and save for a select few, it’s not really done that well. But. who am I to say. But on an unrelated note, English people need to stop complaining about working hours. I know you work long hours susie, i’m not disagreeing, but coming back to North America the average time that people start work is 7.30 or 8. I would give anything for my 9 AM start times!
Super Super is a joke that has been taken too seriously for too long.
it’s true – i start work at 8am, 1/2 hr lunch, work until 4:30pm. I’m from Canada.
Yeah, but I went to the super super party last night, and it was shite.
love the blog.
x
I just really hate the word ‘nu-rave’, it’s not even spelt right! (I’m not a picky speller normally)
more than anything else, i think this is reliving the rave culture and style of the late 1980s/1990s. everything else has been revived up to that point, chronologically and historically, the way we have been looking back fashion-wise, so basically, it was due for a revival.
the same things were popular then…the bright colors, the toys as accessories, the whole thing. of course, now it’s being given a slightly different spin because it’s the second time around, but still, the same, down to a LOT of the details.
perhaps it’s got a socio-political motivation with the unsure state of the world at the moment; the same was true the first time around. remember, the berlin wall fell in 1989, there was a recession economically around that time as well, into the 1990s…things of that nature. different things happening to now, but…unstableness none the less. so the “holding on to youth” argument may not be too far off, if you look at it that way.
also…think about western culture in general…”growing up” in the sense of “settling down”, i.e. not partying, not being self-indulgent, buying a house/flat, having kids, delving into a career happens later and later…holding on to youth, indeed. yet another manifestation of such, perhaps.
personally, i find it quite funny that it’s all coming around again. like another poster, i was there the first time around (started raving in the early 1990s). hard to believe, but people started raving in ibiza and london about 20 years ago this year! it doesn’t seem that long ago, but it truly was….
fundamentally, it has been enough time for fashiony people to stop dogging it and embrace it instead with a sense of nostalgia and a healthy dash of irony.
oh my god. i used to be a candy raver in southern california during the early to mid 90’s. it was an intense scene driven by consumer optimisim and drugs… oh dear, i may have permanently scared the inside of my mouth! it was a lot of fun, constructing the costumes for each party, making jewelery out of toys, hunting for sparkly things, vibrating things, stuff that smelled like vics vapo-rub. so i can see how the nu-rave thing is hitting the streets again.
this is going to be a fun trend to watch, but personally, i’m in my early 30’s, and i have absolutely no desire to relive any of that.
; )
To be fair, you don’t see many middle aged women in the uk dressing so dramatically, it’s a style for people 17-25, people who are on the brink of maturity,adulthood and commitments and who are making the most out of the last days of them being…well…free. i love the ‘nu-rave’ scene however much it has been badly portrayed by the fashion world. the mainstream topshop knock-offs are laughable, they defet the point of the whole scene entirely. the point it to get away form the high street stores with their beigh and pastle coloured clothes and to go to the extreme. long live this movement i say, just have some fun!….p.s does anyone know when the kokon to zai online store will be …well…online? xxx
anyone know where i can get full cheap neon tights ( not leggings or footlesss ones!)
I´ve found a webshop with ktz stuff at: http://www.pickadollstore.com
they also have marjan pejoski. /H
i love fashion