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Street Trends & High Fashion

As we know, street trends are always realted to high fashion. These fashion desginers usually get their inspirations from different street trends. Hence, I would like to introduce 8 basic street trends at first. These trends include Zoot suits, Teddy boys, Beatniks, Disco, Mods, Hip Hop, Punk, and Hippies.

1. Zoot suits:

Basically, zoot suits are suitable for special occasions, such as a dancing party. It is a suit with high-waisted, wide-legged, tight-cuffed, and a long coat with wide lapels and shoulders. Also, it was usually matched with a wide necktie. During the late 1930s and 1940s, the style was popularized byAfrican Americans. The two examples are clear to see the similar look of pant, which was inspired from zoot suits.

Two men(the left one and the right one) wearing zoot suits in Washington D.C., 1942

"Dior Homme", By Kris Van Assche, Fall 2008

"Marc by Marc Jacobs RTW", by Marc Jacobs, Fall 2008

2. Teddy boys

Teddy Boys became more acceptable for the first time in post-war Britain for young people to care about what they looked like. The trend arose as people's incomes increased after the war. Moreover, after World War II, those wealthy young men, such as officers, adopted the style. "Teddy Boy clothing" was drape jackets, usually in dark shades. It's sometimes with velvet trim collar and pocket flaps; high-waist trousers, often exposing the socks. I think the two example has a similar silhouette with Teddy Boys clothing, especailly the colloar and pocket.

Teddy boys - Britain's first youth movement, UK, 1954

"Jens Laugesen RTW", by Jens Laugesen, Fall 2008

"Topshop Unique", Spring 2009

3. Beatniks

The Beatnik movement was another youth driven idea that represented the “beaten down” citizens of society. The style was popular during the 1950s and early 1960s, and “beatniks” usually wore all black turtlenecks, berets, loose-fitting hooped T-shirt, goatee beard, and sunglasses. Therefore, black can be an important element for "Beatniks", so I pick the two examples which showed a strong black clothing style. Besides, in the Versace collection, we can find the designer used a lot of berets in the runway.

Group of Beatniks, US, 1950's

"Lanvin" RTW, by Alber Elbaz, Fall 2009

"Versace" RTW, by Donatella Versace, Fall 2007

4. Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music that had its roots in clubs that catered to African American and other communities in US during the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was famous for its shiny Lycra stretch disco pants and colorful sequin bandeau top. Therefore, in the Jean Paul Gaultier's collection, I found the looks is very shiny"disco" style. Also, the dress of Balmain looks like a great creation from disco style.

A man wearing disco costume, US, 1970s

Jean Paul Gaultier RTW, by Jean Paul Gaultier, Spring 2008

Balmain RTW, by Christophe Decarnin, Spring 2009

5. Mods

Mod is a subculture that originated in London, England in the late 1950s and peaked in the early to mid 1960s. Female mods were dressed with short haircuts, men’s trousers or skirts, flat shoes and little makeup. Male mods adopted a smooth, sophisticated look that emphasized tailor-made suits with narrow lapels, mohair clothes, thin ties, button-down collar shirts, wool crewneck or V-neck sweaters, and pointed-toe leather shoes. Besides, female mods challenge their parental tolerance with miniskirts. Hence, in the collection of Philip Lim in Fall 2009 RTW, he showed the mod style with tailor-made suit and ruffle button-down shirt. Also, in the collection of Aquascutum RTW, we can see a mod minidress.

Twiggy, 1963

"3.1 Phillip Lim RTW", by Phillip Lim, Fall 2009

Aquascutum RTW, by Graeme Fidler and Michael Herz, Fall 2008

6. Hip Hop

During the 1970s, Hip-Hop is an artistic culture that originated in urban communities in New York City. Hip-hop fashion is a distinctive style of clothing, which originated from African-American. The style includes baseball caps, baggy jeans, brightly colorful coats, jackets, and sneakers. Also, accessories of hip-hop style include large eyeglasses, oversized heavey necklaces, and all kinds of rings. Here, Dsquared² expressed an interesting difference in their collection. About menswear for spring 2009 , it is very obvious to see the look of hip-hop style, such as caps, sneakers, big sunglasses, big necklaces, etc. As to womenswear for spring 2008, these clothes are very sexy, and are not so strong for the hip-hop style. However, the evidence of hip-hop in this collection is the big golden necklace.

Biz Markie, US, 1980s

Dsquared² Menswear, by Dean and Dan Caten, Spring 2009

Dsquared² RTW, by Dean and Dan Caten, Spring 2008

7. Punk

Punk first emerged in the mid 1970s in London. In fact, Punk fashion varies widely. However, Punk fashion is the styles of clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, jewelry, and body modifications of the punk subculture. There are some fashion designers who are well-known for punk fashion, such as Vivienne Westwood and Jean Paul Gaultier. The style of punk usually includes black leather rocker jackets, tight jeans, studs, chain and belt, boots, etc. In the two examples, both of them showed a strong relation with punk. For instance, the black boot and leather jacket expressed a clear punk rock spirit.

Punk people, UK, 1980s

Vivienne Westwood RTW, by Vivienne Westwood, Fall 2009

Miss Sixty RTW, Fall 2009

8. Hippies
The hippie was originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the early 1960s. The hippies focus on physical/sexual freedom, drugs, and the overall embracing of peace. Hippie fashion included long haired, sandals or sometimes even barefoot, colorful shirts, vests, bell-bottom pants, accessories, etc. In the two collection I choose, in my point of view, I think they were inspired from Hippies. The pattern is colorful and seems to express the idea of peace. Besides, the look of these two clothes give me a comfortable and free feeling.

A long hair men who wore a red and yellow paisley shirt, 1968

Marc by Marc Jacobs RTW, by Marc Jacobs, Spring 2007

Anna Sui RTW, by Anna Sui, Fall 2008

2 New Street Trends:

A. Shiny Leggings

Leggings are are a type of fitted clothing covering our legs, which can be worn by both men and women. Leggins is so sexy to show the beauty of leg curves. Recently, we can see women who wear all kinds of leggings on the streets in everywhere. Shiny leggings that have a shiny, metallic appearance could emerge as a popular fashion trend in the late-first decade of the 21st century. In the two example, there are very shiny leggings to present on the runway shows.

United States, 2007

Balenciaga RTW, by Nicolas Ghesquière, Spring 2007

Dsquared² RTW, by Dan and Dean Caten, Fall 2010

B. Gothic fashion
Gothic fashion is a clothing style which was worn by people of the Goth subculture. The style is a little similar to punk because it is a black style of clothing. Moreover, typical gothic fashion includes dyed black hair, black lips and black clothes fashion and style of dress.

A girl who wore a black jacket, shirt, and accessories, Japan, 2008

Nina Ricci RTW, by Nina Ricci, Fall 2009

Rick Owens RTW, by Rick Owens, Spring 2010

Work cited:

1.Style.com <http://www.style.com/>

2.GQ <http://www.gq.com/http://www.gq.com/>

3.Chinadaily<http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/lifestyle/2007-01/22/content_789289.htm>

4.ELLE <http://www.elle.com/>

The influence of Japanese culture in fashion

Fashion is in everywhere today, and it always changes. Fashion is not merely created in western inlfuence. In fact, the non-western influences are also relevant in today's fashion. Moreover, in my point of view, Japan culture really brings a strong impact to fashion. Nowadays, more and more designers apply the inspiration of Japan culture to create their clothes in the runway shows. Here, I would like to use John Galliano as the example of non-western influecnes. We can find a lot of characteristic of Japan culture.

Uniform:
The uniform on the right side is a classic style of uniform for senior high schools in Japan. As to the coat, it was showed in the spring 2011 RTW of John Galliano in this year. The style and color of this collar is similar to the unifrom, so I think the coat was inspired from the unifrom.

John Galliano RTW Spring 2011

Especially, I have to mention the collection of Christian Dior for Spring 2007 couture, which was designed by John Galliano. Almost eveything originated from Japan culture! Kimonos, obis, and geisha makeup were showed in the runway, and transformed into the delicate and beautiful relations of New Look peplum suits and full-skirted dresses. Some clothes was also decorated with fabulous art of origami.

Christian Dior Couture Spring 2007 by John Galliano

Haute couture is an very expensive business in fashion, but John Galliano still use such a Japan topic to design the collection for Christian Dior. Also, the show of John Galliano came at a special time when the Japanese currency was weak and a weak yen made financial analysts have a question about how long Japanese consumers can remain a higher demand for luxury goods. Therefore, I think the show indeed encouraged the Japan and US market in fashion. Due to the influence of Japanese culture in fashion, I beliebe more and more people are interested in Japan. For example, we can see a lot of Hollywood movies which show the Japanese culture and art. Western people are getting interested in Japanese culture. Consumers would like to buy all kinds of Japanese products and make up themselves in a Japanes style, and designers are inspired to create their collections thorugh more different Japan culture.

Street Trends

Fashion has a particualr cyle, so we can see street trends( or street fashion) are alwasys changing. Streets are also an interesting place where designers can get some paritcular inspirations. In my point of view, in this year, the most influential trend is the minitary style. The military influence seems to be ubiquitous from 2010 spring runway show to the streets in New york, London, Tokyo, etc. Hence, there is no doubt that military style is the most massive of the fall/winter trends. There are some key elements we have to catch in the trend. First of all, the mainstream color is army green, and the next is navy blue. Second, the key looks are army and aviator. About this style, there are a lot of ways to interpret it. The masculine cuts with fitted feminine styles are really stylish and chic on the streets. Also, this trend is easy to match with other clothes in our wardrobe in this year.

Actually, designers always pay attention to the military style and get inspiration on the streets. They never forgot this style, and they just tried to create some new ideas for this style. Before 2010, designers also had some great ideas about this style. The photo showed a series of fabulous military looks from Temperley, Ralph Lauren, Alexander McQueen, Derek Lam, and Collette Dinnigan in 2009. On the runway shows, we can see some gold detailing and ornate trims with military cuts. In 2009, we might guess the military style would come back again.

Indeed, this year we can really find one of the most important trends in 2010 spring runway shows is the military style. Military style is coming! Moreover, we can see the looks are very elegant and feminine to change the impression of military in the past. It is a little different from the style in 2009, and these brands or designers seem to get more ideas from street fashion.

Balmain

Burberry

Louis Vuitton

Marc Jacobs

Let's see more great looks on the streets this year. As we know, the military style is easy to match with our clothes, and it just makes our styles have more variations or create different looks with others on the streets, so it could be a military accessories with camouflage prints, strappy shoes, aviator caps or a military style jacket.

Finally, I just want to share a very short vedio. It is "HOGAN - VIDEO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN FALL WINTER 2011", and Olivia Palermo shows a nice military style in this vedio.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZO23izwL3w&feature=player_embedded

Fashion and Art

When I saw all kinds of fabulous and specific garments on the runway shows, I am always thinking where these designers get their inspirations in fashion. Sometimes, designers say they were inspired from their daily life, such as street styles. However, some designers were still inspired by historical artistic styles. Interestingly, we can find some great examples to show their similarity and creativity.

1. Alexander McQueen's feather dress from fall '08 and Elyse Hochstadt's feather chair:

This black leather chair was designed by Elyse Hochstadt back in 2007, and the actual name of the chair is Portrait of George 1. When I saw the runway show, I can clearly connect the dress with the chair because of the beautiful black leathers.

Alexander McQueen, fall, 2008. "Portrait of George 1" by Elyse Hochstadt's , 2007.

2. The decoration of massive gold chains by Riccardo Tisci's and a jewelry chandelier by Floto + warner:

Artists Floto + Warner used some baubles to remake the beautiful artworks, which were made from recycled and secondhand jewelry. Besides, Riccardo Tisci used black colors to design clothes, butdecorated his collection with golden jewels that seemed to draw inspiration from Floto + warner.

Riccardo Tisci, Fall, 2008

Riccardo Tisci, Fall, 2009

Floto + Warner, Second-Hand Chandeliers

3. BALENCIAGA and Gerhard Richter

In this collection, we can find the pants showed the similarity of abstact styles between colors and lines. Balenciaga seems to get inspiration from the abstract oil painting by Gerhard Richter.

Balenciaga, Spring 2010 RTW

Oil on canvas by Gerhard Richter, 1992

4. John Galliano and Origami

Japan is a very beautiful country where they have their specific art and culture, and Origami is a traditional Japanese folk art that uses paper folding. It started in the 17th century AD and was popularized in the mid-1900s. Many designers were inspired by Origami, such as John Galliano, Lisa Bigalke, and Andre Lima, etc. We can see the shoulder and bottom of this fabulous origami wedding dress, which looks like a idea from the paper crane.

Origami, Japan
John Galliano for Christian Dior

5. The strong impact of YSL which was inspired by Van Gogh and Georges Braque

Yves Saint Laurent must be a great example to talk about fashion and art. YSL get a lot of inspirations from many famous paintings, such as Irises by Vincent Van Gogh and Les Oiseaux by Georges Braque. We can see the patterns of clothes in the YSL runway shows are very similar to these fabulous paintings that shows very beaufiful sunflowers and lovely birds.

YSL

Vincent Van Gogh, "Irises", 1889

YSL. Georges Braque,"Les Oiseaux", 1953-1954

6. Jean Charles de Castelbajac and the graffiti art of Keith Haring

Keith Haring was an artist and social activist who can represent the New York City street culture of the 1980s through his graffiti artworks that there are many cute figures to show all kinds of actions and characteristic. We can easily find the same idea that Jean Charles de Castelbajac used in his collection.

Jean Charles Castelbajac, 2002-2003.

Keith Haring, Icon (Radiant Beauty), 1990

This mural on the Church of Sant’Antonio in Pisa entitled “Tuttomondo,” was his last public project in 1990.