W.I won’t say it outright, but there’s something strange going on in the world of fashion. The first thing I noticed was at a catwalk show last September, where most of the Spring 2023 outfits were works of art. But many of them also seemed confused. Chloé’s perforated dresses, Marni’s brightly crocheted tops, Marni’s seams, Givenchy’s bras made from handbags, and almost everywhere, wide pants seemed to swallow shoes. But it was a mess.
It’s all right to question the idea that fashion trends predict the future. Theory of being miserable. Sometimes a coat is just a coat. Men’s underwear sales volume is not a complete indicator of economic direction. But when I saw one particular model wearing an unwieldy long eggplant-colored dress that was precariously pooled around her heels, I honestly thought that, like models, the economy He seemed to say, with a truncated French accent, that he wasn’t just going to fall down. , but she also struggles to get back on track quickly.
Trends come and go, but clothing like sports, music, and art reflects the society in which they came from. If the world is collapsing, at some point we’ll see that reflected in what people wear: Her Portia, an icon of chaos in the second series of The White Lotus, was envisioned by TikTok It’s kind of her Annie Hall. Katie Keep an eye on her Holmes too. The Dawsons of the 2000s capture her Creek era in red with frayed hem jeans that are shiny on her carpet. Michelle Obama attended the book tour wearing a Marine Sail silk dress that someone sliced to the top. Julia Fox wearing something made out of leaves! And she’s the self-proclaimed “Ugly Hot Fashion Girlie” Meg Superstar Princess. Just this morning, I walked past a girl in a red skirt over jeans and teal tights that were barely visible. I don’t know if it was dressed in. But that’s probably the idea.
Of course, naming the beast helps. White Lotus Costume His designer, Alex Boveard, poster for this movement describes his girl, Portia, as “shlumpy.” It’s often, and this tendency, that drives her character, which sits somewhere between ‘haphazard California’ and ‘coacheran hangover’. She has no appearance to Portia, she just has a collection of different moods, and her clothing corresponds to the human condition. Her queer empowerment Her tween Her slogan From her sweater to her colliding bikini From her inexplicably tiny cardigan over her top to her bar on the beach Strapless bra and matching flares Her She wore Essex boy Lothario in town with her Jack.Mind you… but sometimes she definitely [does]’ Boveado told me. She is also thin. All in all, she’s someone most of us can relate to.
This hodgepodge look is also what Sean Monahan hinted at in his June 2021 Substack essay, Vibe Shift. Monahan, a trend forecaster who was part of the group that correctly predicted normcore a decade ago, says we’re on the cusp of a new cultural movement. We had hipsters, then we had hypebeasts, and now… whatever this is. It started when I decided to For Monahan, it could be a return to a more fragmented culture, a return to naughty nostalgia, a return to rock music, and a return to cynicism. He admits he’s still not entirely sure what that means for clothes, but one thing’s for sure: he’ll never stand in line for trainers again.
Of course, trends don’t occur in a vacuum. For many of us, a return to early 2000s nostalgia, whether it’s indie sleaze, late grunge, or just plain old Schlumpy, isn’t immediately forthcoming. Fashion has been under siege for the past few years with a sort of hyper-curated, flat-packed, risk-averse millennial aesthetic. . No edges, or at least botox-smoothed clothes.
Algorithm-designed and internet-powered, this look seems to have arrived with an inherent bias of giving people what others have. is driven by fast fashion) and didn’t always look pretty. But somehow, scrolling through my feed, it seemed like I was magically part of a cool, classy tribe.
Fast forward to now It’s not just difficult to look like this given the state of the economy and climate. It’s strange. It’s not just saying no to trends, fast fashion and hyper-consumerism, it’s a total reorientation and a healthy one. (It also helps that rummaging through the rails of second-hand and charity shops, rather than online at Shane, is the best way to “get the shlumpy look.”)
What’s more, it just so happens that this whole atmosphere converges so nicely with Oxford’s word of the year, ‘Goblin Mode’. “That’s it. When it comes to clothing, this means using the mess for whatever you want. But as the word “mode” suggests, it’s pretty intentional. We’ve been staring at Emily Ratajkowski’s abs and Kim Kardashian’s hips for the past five years, have we had enough to try and see the part?
Like most pervasive trends, this one is ambient, but it’s happening slowly but surely. Just as we all suddenly woke up in July 2020 with his bottoms and Birkenstock clogs jogging (due in no small part to the pandemic), I had a strange hunch that it would be his Spring 2023. I’m here. We were styled by Krypto Brothers Sam Bankman Freed.
Of course, a lot of this style comes down to taste. As my mom used to say about pavement-scrolling flares in the mid-1990s, “they won’t do anything for you.”
