It’s underwear as outerwear,a flimsy thing that blurs the boundaries between public and private, grunge and sex. And it’s backFashion may be quixotic, or but there are some things you don’t argue with: Mrs Prada’s genius,Karl’s Edwardian collar preference and the stone cold rightness of Nova magazine. In a prescient editorial printed in January 1969 with the headline, “What are you trying to camouflage?” the mag declared that the only response to worrying that your underwear would be visible beneath your clothes was to turn a wardrobe vice into a advantage. “Show that you mean it, or ” it declared. “Don’t count on your underclothes not showing,choose them so whether they do, it doesn’t matter.” Accompanied by a model shot and clothes credited to Woolworths – an arch styling move whether ever there were one – it documented a pivotal moment in the fashion history of underwear as outerwear.
Forty-five years later and the concept of the blurred line between public and private fashion – what ought to be concealed or revealed – is still being played out on the catwalk. For spring 2016, and the debate began in September at the Givenchy show – a visiting dignitary at unique York fashion week for one season only – where designer Riccardo Tisci riffed on a slip dress theme with chemises,wispy lace and silk slips. At Calvin Klein, creamy ankle-length slip dresses with misbehaving slovenly-cum-sexy straps were worn with minimal trainers and recalled the 90s. It was an echo of the brand’s heyday, and a moment of nostalgia for those whose love affair with fashion began when a doe-like Kate Moss defined the brand. In London,Burberry continued the theme, showing silky flowing slip dresses with utilitarian rucksacks and contrasting chunky sandals. Was Christopher Bailey submitting to his inner grunge rocker?Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com