In the article entitled “Sign of the Time”, Cathy Horyn signals a change in today’s fashion: “If you accept that fashion reflects the times — and I do — then you have to concede that in this respect Slimane has been impressive, even prescient. His Saint Laurent collections perfectly capture the mood and values of the present. The need for simple messages. The triumph of branding.” She gives Slimane as an example because his clever move at the house of Saint Laurent will surely be mentioned in the future as an important moment in the shift from wearable ideas to wearable clothes. Hedi Slimane’s first collections for Saint Laurent were controversial because they weren’t desirable for the fashion critics and journalists, but they were extremely desirable for the public. And according to fashion journalist Cathy Horyn, the commercial desirability of fashion is a sign of our times.
I have always been a fashion spectator, observing fashion through a screen, or on the pages of magazines, and although the majority of my wardrobe consists of wearable and almost boring pieces, I always loved watching a collection that had a story behind it, a collection that made me dream or made me think. Maybe because I perceive fashion from a romantic point of view. But fashion is not only for dreaming; it is a functioning economic system that thrives on consumer’s dreams and succeeds in turning them into reality.
Irina Schrotter’s collection for spring/summer 2015 was presented during MQ Vienna Fashion Week. Her forth collection in collaboration with the Romanian conceptual designer Lucian Broscatean is entitled Displaced Shapes and intertwines in a process of assimilation the conceptual tools used by Lucian Broscatean in his personal collections with the commercial desirability of Irina Schrotter’s brand. The reason why I have referenced Cathy Horyn’s article is because I sensed in Schrotter’s collection a new type of modernity similar to the one discussed by the fashion journalist. The interplay between color blocking, black and white structures and digital prints compose easy-to-wear pieces that are desirable for women who do not seek meaning in their clothes but comfort and care-free elegance. The visual/cultural/artistic references on which Lucian Broscatean constructed or deconstructed the former collections for Irina Schrotter were not mentioned in this collection, but his solid background in those fields was still present. He understands that in the process of fashion democratization a hermeneutical approach seems somehow futile. Meaning is simplified so that it can reach a larger audience. The clothes have learnt how to speak for themselves. As for dreamers like me, the dream doesn’t have to end, it just has to become more lucid.
Designer – Lucian Broscățean
Print Design – Carmen Cherecheș
Shoes – Mihaela Glăvan
Accessories – Carmen Cherecheș & Diana Flore
Hairstyle – Cristina Micu, Simina Cheteleș & Raul Tișa
Photo credit – Emil Costruț
