State of the fashion world

Words: Daniël Geldenhuys | Images: Getty

We haven’t officially stepped into the new decade just yet, but some big changes in the fashion world are already setting the tone for how we’ll soon be dressing. The Spring 2020 international collections were like a state of the nation address, easily applicable across the globe. The way messaging around politics and the environment translate across borders so seamlessly is testament to the ever-increasing globalisation that characterises our time. 

Messaging is becoming the aim of the luxury fashion game. Today more than ever, luxury is becoming about a sense of conscious context. The hierarchy of the Spring 2020 season is determined by the substance of narrative around the clothes, clearly demonstrated at Pyer Moss. The context in which designer pieces are made is an opportunity for further elevation in value. At the end of the day, the final product still needs to look incredible – this might go without saying, but remains notable as designers work to tick all these boxes in a way that feels effortless. 

Sustainability starts with a mindset switch that taps into the importance of longevity, investing in pieces that transcend seasons both aesthetically and in terms of quality construction. Designers such as Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen at The Row and Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski at Hermès are materialising this vision with meticulously crafted minimalist pieces that are truly precious in their unassuming elegance. 

Stella McCartney has always had the Earth’s wellbeing on her mind, denouncing leather and creating faux fur pieces long before it became a movement. This season was her most sustainable yet, with 75% of its textiles classified as eco-friendly. The designer also hosted a sustainability roundtable with supermodel Amber Valletta, who addressed waste issues directly. 

Another (note, woman) designer at the forefront of this movement is Alexander McQueen’s Sarah Burton. The collection was the fashion counterpart of a farm-to-table dining experience. Sustainable fabrics came from home turf: England and Ireland. The design process for one particularly idiosyncratic dress began at a life drawing class hosted at a McQueen store. The resulting sketches by students from Central Saint Martins were stitched into the fabric by a communion of McQueen staff – HR included. 

Necessary political commentary came through loud and clear. An American living in Paris, Rick Owens designed a collection in the name of his mother, a Mexican immigrant. At Maison Margiela, John Galliano deconstructed military uniforms, looking back at battles past and questioning the current state of liberation. Demna Gvasalia’s Balenciaga hosted a dystopian political summit, complete with delegates and constituents speaking poignantly about control, politics and excess. 

The young French designer Marine Serre conjured a beautifully sombre scene – a futuristic post climate-change scape. Titled Marée Noire, which translates to “oil spill”, it was the show that best demonstrated the overlap between politics and the environmental crisis. For all its doom and gloom, the collection catered masterfully to the contemporary diversity of human needs: clothes ranged from modest to sexy and dressed an authentically inclusive cast across boundaries of gender, age and race. For better or worse, though it will probably be both, it was fashion’s image of the imminent future.