Who killed the peacock? Once fashion weeks were a riot of excess. Now low-key dressing is in on the catwalk and on the street. Whats behind the new modesty?
The moment you know that showing off is over? When its over even at London fashion week. After all, to catwalk (verb) means to show off. A fashion show is attitude as art, peacocking as commerce. But this LFW was different. There was no bombast, no pomp. The clothes on the catwalk were understatement, rather than statement dressing. Instead of strutting in six-inch heels, all high steps and flared nostrils and arched eyebrows, the models were in flat shoes, and they just well, they walked. Like, you know, normal people.
The look on the catwalk was modest, in every sense. Skirts were knee-length, or thereabouts. Quite often, as at Richard Nicoll and J. JS Lee, the hem was dipped, longer at the back or front. (It seemed to say, Theres no hemline-diktat this season, folks, anywhere around the knee is fine, really.) They were worn with T-shirts, white shirts, sweatshirts. There were lots of dresses, too, but these seemed to take as their starting point the dress as simple, one-piece dressing rather than as a symbol of hourglass femininity. At Christopher Raeburn and at Preen, for instance, there were dresses in the form of long, zipped-up bomber jackets to above the knee. The denim jacket icon of Normcore, the hipster trend for appropriation of the most boring clothing possible showed up everywhere in London, just as it did last week in New York. And not just at traditionally streetstyle influenced-shows, but also, strikingly, at the mass-commercially focused Burberry. There were practical, slouchy rucksacks as It-bags at Preen. A fashion roster packed with designers who are strong minded to the point of perversity seemed to have made a pact to dial down, to take a break from making women jump through hoops. JW Andersons subversive, haute-androgyny became something easier, with contrast collars and flared sleeves accenting simple two-piece outfits. Roksanda she has dropped the Ilincic as a reflection on the designers signature simplicity, which is rather this season kept her gorgeous colours but toned down the pomp of the silhouette.
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