Ugly Clothes, Demna Gvasalia, and Refugees
Impact of the EU Refugee Crisis on fashion
Fashion, despite the overall elitist nature of the industry and reliance on a narrow circle of so-called trendsetters at the top of its hierarchy, indeed is far from existing in a vacuum. As a peculiar combination of art, pop culture, and business, the industry is doomed for failure if not catering to the current demands of society. Despite the popular belief that the style of clothing descends from the trend-setters into the mass, the case is mostly opposite with the styles emerging within certain communities being picked up by the industry and sold back into society as ‘fashionable.’ Every concept in fashion design has its specific reasons; some of them are created based on historical events, whereas others reflect general social mood.
Although cynically said, war is the most potent fashion catalyst of all. French Revolution redefined menswear by swapping expensive silks for more practical and affordable materials such as wool and cotton, pastel shades of pink, blue, and green were soon replaced by more sombre colours. World War I forced utilitarianism upon fashion, making functionality of clothing its main feature. Affecting mostly female wardrobe, large shapes became less sharp and allowed creation of a new practical costume that permitted women dress themselves unaided and gave their movements more freedom. Albeit under the grim circumstances, women were first introduced to the concept of comfort in fashion. Further simplification of the cuts continued through World War II, giving birth to the modern classic. Despite the emergence of the 1947 Dior’s New Look, British and American designers with their plain elegance remained more popular in the West, whereas the U.S.S.R. pursued the idea of a national uniform with little difference between female and male garments. Curiously, a drive towards gender-neutral styles, unrepresentative of social and financial status is characteristic for the post-war fashions of the XX century. From a psychological standpoint, there is nothing to wonder about. Oversize doesn’t hug the body, hiding gender and sexual signs, specifics of body and proportions. It provides comfort and an illusion of safety that is so fragile under the threat of a military conflict. Whilst a dressed body serves as an instrument to express personality, and its visual perception, provides the information about their social status, sexuality and gender identity, oversize and blandness reject strict aesthetic connotations, related to the normative body, and warp perception.
Although the local conflicts keep breaking out in Europe, general anxiety of a war for an average Westerner diminished to almost zero during the last century with the bloodshedding conflicts shifting to the mystery land of the Middle East, far enough for explosions and rattling of a gun to be unheard. Yet, the fashion of the 2010s faced a dramatic change. As if at an instance, glamourous, glittery, and care-free Y2K was replaced by an overpowering prevalence of radical oversize, military aesthetic developing into darkwear, warcore, and techwear with such elements of grunge as chains, ripped jeans, and “worn-out” clothes making their comeback. The largest brands alter their well-established chic aesthetic to the extremes of either radical minimalism, or maximalism of poverty.
A side-by-side comparison of the decade-separated runway shows exposes the evident shift in their creative direction.
Whereas Prada in their Spring 2003 Ready-To-Wear collection repeat the same pattern of playful, sometimes even ugly, luxury with neon-coloured satins, flat silver sandals, relaxed yet sexy knits and a whole lot of bare skin, Spring 2013 Ready-To-Wear collection bears but little reminiscence of Prada’s Italian kitsch in silver and gold of the boots and satin dresses. Black, shades of grey, sombre greens and purple came in place of zestful neons, carefully sprinkled with the accents of scarlet Japanese-inspired floral prints.
The silhouettes gain stiffness and become sharper, allowing more space between fabric and skin. Unnatural for a Spring collection, Miuccia also included several shawls, clenched protectively by the models, coats in satin and even fur! From there, a traditional Pradaesque notion of luxury gets further distorted by what Mrs P. herself defined as “a mix of rich and poor.” In contrast to rigid cuts, reminiscent of the war-time uniforms, Prada Fall 2013 runway is opened by an eclectic look of a seemingly distressed sequined cocktail dress over a shabby mud-green cardigan and chunky platform pumps.
2010s Prada Girl, unlike her 2000s version, is no more fun and flirtatious, yet she doesn’t worry about hiding from being perceived — she stands against the world stoically, wearing her apathy as a shield.
Another brand that set the fashion industry back on their heels with its “le mess” aesthetic is Gucci. Synonymous to Italian Dolce Vita, House of Gucci could hardly have been described as nothing but maximalist even prior, yet the appointment of Alessandro Michaele set the brand on a whole new rollercoaster of madness. Alessandro, supplying for the demands of the 2010s, stripped the brand of its 90s ‘porn chic’ sex appeal opting for the gender-fluid oversized silhouettes, even coining a new term of ‘geek-chic’.
If not wreathed with an eyesore monogram, Michele’s Gucci creates a shield of hideousness (in its best sense, of course) that disguises both gender and social status of the wearer behind the mismatched patterns, malconforming styling, oversized proportions, and accessories that are traditionally considered ugly, such as a pair of thick glasses. Gucci’s overall semblance informs politely, “Perceive me, if you might, but not sexually.”
Such a drastic change of fashion from the sexy and vibrant early 2000s to the progressively gender-bending 2010s couldn’t have happened in a vacuum of fancy ateliers. Drained of colour and jollity rags become new luxury, bringing such brands as Rick Owens, Carol Christian Poell, etc. to the spotlight of popular culture. Yet, if no fashion trend emerges under its own steam then who are you hiding from inside your oversized hoodie?
Whilst the fashion mainstream was timidly hiding behind the pretentious mask of apoliticism and gentrifying the ‘aesthetic of poverty’ without speaking up for the communities they were ‘inspired by’, a no-name-Georgian immigrant left the industry speechless after launching a brand we all know well. Vetements’ creative direction of cohesive chaos, of the ill-fitted crumpled clothes one may have put on in the dark dressing up in a hurry, brutal and free of deceit, resonated with the jittery public. Demna Gvasalia, one of the founders of Vetements and currently a creative director at Balenciaga, did not shy away from war and refugees, two subjects that shaped the fashion of 2010s.
Having risen to a crescendo number of 1.3 million people in 2015, mostly Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis fled their war-torn countries to seek asylum in Europe. Influx of the refugees, incompetence of the social organizations and resistance of the right-wing governments lead to humanitarian crisis, chaotic border closures and smearing media campaign targeting the asylum seekers. Instead of providing a comprehensive explanation to the public, publications adopted a strategy of antagonising these newly arrived people, labelling them as ‘the other’, ‘the alien’, ‘the strangers’. A series of events that followed — the ISIS attack in Paris in November 2015, the robberies and sexual assaults in Cologne during the New Year’s Eve celebrations, served as an excuse for media outlets to juxtapose the traditional and cultural values of ‘progressive’ Europe to the barbaric nature of the savages from ‘over there’.
A priori, connotation of ‘the other’ has no positive meaning since ‘the otherness’ suggests enmity. Existence of ‘the different’ creates a conflict between what is mine and what is yours, thus threatening ‘mine’ to be taken from me. Built upon the alienation and antagonisation of ‘the other’, the media constructed a system of dangers, primarily focusing on a security threat (a refugee will beat you up and steal your Rolex), an economic and social threat (a refugee will take your job, your wife, and your 3 kids), and a threat to the bodily autonomy (a refugee will rape you if you wear your sexy Louboutins). Despite having little to do with reality, constant projection of the same hostile ideas into society cultivates general anxiety, which reflects not only politically but also in fashion, as the 21st century individualistic capitalist mentality promotes appearance as the primary methods of self-expression and facilitates categorising based on the external information about one’s age, gender, social and financial status etc.
You might ask a fairly sensible question — ‘Islamist issue’ is not new, then why didn’t it affect fashion after, for instance, 9/11? And the answer is very simple. The threat, according to the Western propaganda, was portrayed as primarily external, the one existing far away from the Western Freedomland. Thus, there was no need to interact with the inimical culture. However, in case of the invasion of ‘the otherness’, the original culture has no choice but to blend in and appropriate the foreign elements. To deal with the perceived threat, many fashion designers e.g. Prada have either chosen to assimilate with the refugees, or repulse and play a scarecrow like Gucci. Many of the brands, like Rick Owens, Acronym etc., interlace these two ideas to create a costume that both provides a safe shelter for the wearer, blends them into the existing social context, and emits a warning to not mess around.
We could have endlessly analysed various designers’ inspirations from the EU refugee crisis, but, luckily for us, Demna Gvasalia’s Spring 2019 post-ironic collection for Vetements summarised it all. “I feel everybody today talks about war, refugees. And I am like, yes, I know exactly what that means. It’s weird. This is about my life, but also it’s about everything you see on CNN, as well,” says Demna, having first-hand experienced the hardships of fleeing your home country during the military invasion of the Georgian Abkhazia region by the Russian troops in 1993.
Inspired by the refugees’ clothing, often ragged after a tortuous journey away from the war, this collection includes stretched as if from the long wear knits, formless floral dresses styled with the oversized terribly-fitted jackets. Heavy looks on top are contrasted by the thinly strapped sandals that create an illusion of walking barefoot, a sad reality for many asylum seekers. Rough hem and asymmetric cuts top up the reference to such reality, whereas a sniper’s target on the chest alludes metaphorically to the hardships of prosecution by both war and governments.
Some other looks, on the other hand, appeal to the sense of intimidation, alarming ‘the other’ by advice to ‘fuck off’ written on their chests, exaggerated shoulders that create a false sense of physical superiority, and tattoos, inspired by the U.S.S.R. prison ethics.
And whilst the most general implication of ‘the immigration threat’ on pop-culture fashion is warping the perception of one’s identity by consciously concealing certain aspects such as gender, age, and financial status, Demna Gvasalia went one step further and asked, perhaps, one of the most important question of modernity, “What if I don’t want to be perceived?”
Once the false sense of security that modern Europe is built upon has shattered, and an oversized hoodie does not provide enough shelter from the crippling anxiety and uncertainty, Gvasalia suggests a solution via adding balaclavas and gimp masks to non-descript silhouettes. Philosophy of non-perception remains one of the primary areas of the designer’s exploration at Balenciaga with the latest Kim Kardashian and Demna’s appearance at the MET Gala.
The EU refugee crisis might have faded from the front pages of the news outlets, however it’s impact will be observed for decades from now as it opened Pandora’s box, unleashing Europe’s own demons upon itself. It exposed the fragility of illusionary peace, the faults of capitalism, and incompetence of the most progressive governments to deal with a large-scale internal issue. Such revelation fairly strikes a question within the young generation about their place within this structure, and whether they want to be belong to it at all. As for post-crisis fashion, contemplation and reinterpretation of the past steadily becomes a pivotal trajectory, but that’s a story for another time.
To help the refugees, donate to the resources below:
https://www.jcwi.org.uk/donate/donate/10/credit-card
https://safe-passage-c.fundraise.tech/one-off/
https://donate.refugee-action.org.uk/page/88799/donate/1?ea.tracking.id=REAC_W1
