When was the last time you got up and thought to yourself, “right, let’s strap on a corset”, or “hmm, I’ll wear a barely-there dress today”? Unless you were born after 1997, chances are, these thoughts haven’t crossed your mind.
Y2K has been holding fashion in a chokehold for the past few seasons, and so it can be tempting to blindly follow suit. However, corseted tops, low-rise jeans, transparent garbs and sandwashed denim are all items that should arguably be left to those who fashion anthropologists would categorise as “Gen-Z”.
The good news? Change is afoot, as fashion’s onus is shifting towards a new sensibility. World, meet casual comfort: the antidote to the post-pandemic fascination with uncomfortable clothing. Blame it on the free falling economy, or what the internet dubs “recession-core”, but either way, fashion’s attempts to make comfort, well, chic, befits the unsettled collective consciousness.
First, there was the most talked-about look of spring/summer 2023: Kate Moss at Bottega Veneta in a checked shirt and jeans. A bit plain? Precisely that was the point. As creative director, Matthieu Blazy, puts it, “it’s a kind of casual comfort that we pushed to the extreme.” Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons were excited by the idea of “traces of living” and leaving marks, rather than look-at-me embellishments. This notion was reflected in torn paper dresses, creasing (drop the iron, immediately) and Whatever Happened To Baby Jane nighties.
London designer Emilia Wickstead bid adieu to the Y2K thong, reintroducing “big girl” knickers and, elsewhere, we saw dropping hemlines on denim skirts and pockets on virtually everything, harnessing our inner Bob The Builder.
Plain? Perhaps. But quietly eccentric nonetheless: Kate Moss’s look was entirely made from leather, the creases at Prada were, of course, intended (not just left on the drying rack for too long) and wearing briefs (and briefs only) still takes a lot of courage. However the headline remains: we’re seriously “team comfort” this season. But make it chic, obviously.
Wondering how to try the cosy trend? See the key pieces to buy into this season below.
click to enlarge Courtesy photo Not Sorry Goods in Ferndale sells clothing, accessories, and other items made by women, Black, and queer artists.
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