Fashion, the time machine that each of us has
“I’m quite sure that many of us have dreamed at least once of traveling in time.
Some to know what the future holds or perhaps for some history fans to experience some important historical moment. But who better than fashion can offer us a clear photographic view of what the path of humanity has been?! “
Fashion has come a long way until now, it is a sector that has undergone strong transformations, is constantly evolving, it’s the mirror of a part of history, of different eras. All the past periods have a common denominator: society has not always been free to wear what it wished.
Just think of the women who for a long time struggled to wear trousers, in every sense. Referring to the female figure and fashion, up to 1993 in the US was forbidden for a woman in politics to wear pants, it seems absurd to think about it in present days, yet it seems that Hilary Clinton was the first First Lady to do it. However, the actual invention of the use of pants in the female figure seems to be attributed to Coco Chanel.
Fashion changes, it’s never the same, it changes year after year, it progresses along with everything else, from an economic, social, cultural point of view and is part of us every day. Progress in fashion influence either the way we dress or the way we live or the way we represent ourselves.
Unlike today, trends used to be followed by the mass, what was fashionable in a period used to be worn well or bad by everyone, or at least by those who could afford it. Today being fashionable is more subjective, it’s more independent from the concept of trends and mass, but above all, it seems to be much more accessible for everyone thanks to the great variety of brands and chain stores.
Today it seems that we want to deviate from trends and have our style, almost personal and unique, neither modern nor traditional and an accessory such as a hat, a ribbon between hair, a brooch, a pair of shoes, or a dress is enough to evoke an era or a specific fashion period.
The ’20s Charleston style didn’t come back but the little black dress was born in those years and today we can define it as a must-have evergreen in our wardrobe. Or the timeless tweed suit!
Shortly after the jeans, the high waist, the red lipstick were born: today these seem to be must-haves too. Towards the ’60s, colors explode, especially floral patterns, flared trousers… it all still seems very current, right?
Approaching the present day we have noticed the madness of maxi-dresses on the catwalks, or over-size “boyfriend” or even “mom fit” jeans, because yes, today women no longer need to feel at the center of attention, necessarily put the skirt, high heels, tight things and a red lipstick style pin-up to feel feminine or emancipated, today she has it, she had to fight in the past to get it.
Today we can find fabrics, decorative elements, tools, and machinery more easily in order to successfully replicate the style of the past, perhaps using different fabrics and more current colors. A ’700 dress is enough to make us feel princesses, a floral shirt to feel a hippie, a pair of leather pants to feel a bit ’80s rock stars, we can mix one end of each period to bring to life any character that our imagination can perceive without feeling judged.
It takes a little to recall memories and take a journey through time, and fashion gives us this luxury. The luxury of traveling in time and decide every day in which historical moment we want to live our day or set up our emotions. And we are not talking only about the past but also about the future.
We now live in a world where many of us have an “avatar” and express it mainly with their unconventional look. Who would ever have thought that the role of “dressing up” would achieve a radical transformation, passing from the need to cover the body to protect it to the science fiction of the future?!