From Barbara Hulanicki's take on Jazz Age chic in the 1960's that brought lifestyle shopping to Biba customers, to the dropped waist dresses showcased by Carolina Herrera in her 2008 Resort collection, no season in fashion is complete without a modern riff on deco. 1001 fashion stories have been woven from the treasure trove of inspiration provided by of Poiret, Chanel, Schiaparelli and Patou. Where simple flapper tea dresses, soft separates, volume and subtle fullness bubble up into the mainstream dressmaker details including handkerchief hemlines and bias cutting reoccur.
And fall 2007 was no exception as the Met's exhibition on Poiret made for the perfect backdrop for Art Deco reinvention, fuelling imaginations and sending stylish hallmarks of the 1920's and 1930's spilling onto the runways. Once again the looser fits, shorter hemlines and progressiveness of this by-gone era added together to create a fashion gold mine. Bold neckline graphics appeared from Chanel to Alice Temperiey's GO range for Target. Giambattista Valli set the runway ablaze with bold geometric patterns, while Marc Jacobs contrasted streamlined looks with bold and chunky jewelry in perspex and agate. For Spring and Summer 2008 Doo Ri took the barely there nudes and paler than pale tones pioneered during the post war period, using them on sheaths, high-waisted pants and shorts.
So much of this ongoing dedication to Deco owes itself simply to the wealth of material that the post war era offers up. It was an age abundant with reform, invention and rich in the opulent glamour of an emerging Hollywood. Fashion was infused with both utilitarian pragmatism and stylish exuberance in what turned out to be a veritable cocktail for fashion-forwardness. As women joined the workforce a new style lexicon was established and sportswear introduced. Fashion history was being made and change was at its core.
Leaving aside tired interpretations of Deco as simply a play on glamour, it was in this spirit of change and reinvention that designers found favor with Deco for next season. Spring and Summer 2008 runway looks veered from the feminine and romantic to embrace Vaudville and androgyny. At Christian Dior John Galliano punctuated pretty frocks with menswear tailoring and Victor/Victoria androgyny, evoking avant-garde experimentation and Jazz Age sexual freedom. Meanwhile Sophie Buhai and Lisa Maylock of Vena Cava gave Ballets Russes prettiness a rough edge, slinging chains around hips and setting them alongside ruffled necklines. Soft and pretty blouses with a 1930's air were paired with menswear trousers, while long and elegant chiffon pleated skirts in Hollywood-heroine silhouettes were printed with bold, in-your-face typeface patterns.
Overall it was fashionable proof that just as expressions of luxury can cross time periods, so too can ambiguity, contradiction and complexity – all with relevance today. After all, for everything that has altered over the years, many of the issues that energized fashion through social change and political debate are much the same today, albeit in different form. With a woman's right to choose up for Supreme Court debate and gay marriage a hot button issue, the role of government in determining our private lives and sexual freedoms is still of central concern. And while all citizens now have equal rights, key industries rely on an underclass of illegal immigrants to work without access to health care or a voice in society. And finally there is war, the realities of which most of the population today need only face through the privileged window of television.
So forget recycling, because in fashion as in politics, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. The more things change the more things stay the same.
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