Changing Times and Fashions
- Rhiannon Evans
- Feb 1, 2020
- 3 min read
On September 7th 2019, TeenVogue published an article entitled "Why Are We All Dressing Like Children?" in which the concept of rebellion through fashion is discussed, claiming that the current trend for nostalgic clothing “is in direct opposition to the current political or societal climate”. That is to say, individuals are clinging to a more innocent time in their youth and using clothing to emulate that era. Recent times have seen a sharp increase in the number of people wearing clothes from the 80s, 90s and early 2000s, as well as a surge in the popularity of vintage clothing sales. In fact, in late 2018, Google released its annual study of the year’s most trending searches, revealing that the top fashion searches were for 1980s fashion, grunge fashion, 1990s fashion, and early 2000s fashion. "Cartoonish" items of clothing that use bold colours and patterns reduce the cruel harshness of the grey world of suits that seems to be oppressing individuality, however subconsciously. The fashions that this specific article discussed were all very brightly coloured and, well, childlike, almost reminiscent of the 'kawaii' fashion that is incredibly popular in Japan and has been spreading throughout Western culture throughout the twentieth century due to an increased interest in far eastern cultures.
Rebellion through fashion as a concept has always been intriguing to me, starting from my school's "form project"; a piece of extended work done in year 9 (when I was 14) that we were all made to do. I chose to do a project along the lines of "The links between fashion and female emancipation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries." (I'm afraid I cannot remember the exact title as the project was a long time ago and my conclusions were not terribly well thought out or revolutionary - I distinctly remember my teacher was not a fan.) In this project, I suggested that women's fashion evolved and changed due to the changing role of women in society. That is to say, women started to wear trousers because they were no being asked to fulfil the roles of men who were away fighting in the first world war.
However, this TeenVogue article seemed to suggest that change occurs due to small individual choices, instead of individual choices being influenced by one mass event. This presents the idea that women pushed boundaries with clothing choices until it became socially acceptable when those in positions of influence (both politically and in the world of fashion) conceded, and then societal changes, such as female emancipation, occurred.
Back to more modern fashions, maybe this return to the clothes of our youth is merely a precursor to more political upheavals. That isn't to say that the world was a better place when we first chose to wear 80s and 90s style clothing, clearly, that isn't true. The world before the collapse of the Berlin Wall and marriage equality was obviously regressive, however, it was far less complicated for the people who now form the most influential generation of today.
On the other hand, the article also suggests that “In times of crisis, clothes and accessories are often used to levy rebellion,”. This means that people are choosing to dress like children as an alternative to more dangerous, more subtle rebellion, much like the early suffragettes did. Amelia Bloomer was the original pioneer of her namesake suit: a loose tunic over baggy trousers and Coco Chanel was well known for her skirt suit, which replaced the ridiculous frilly petticoats and underskirts of the Victorian era and introduced women as serious contenders in the workplace as well as the world. This lead to people like Marlene Dietrich and Katherine Hepburn wearing full-blown menswear, even before the practicalities of the Second World War proved that trousers were the way forward. This was before women were fully seen as equals in society, and although it may seem that fashion is just another indicator of the changing times, I feel that it is far more influential, and society can be heavily influenced by what large groups of people chose to wear. Therefore, I suggest that these throw-back fashions do not indicate people wanting the political situation of the late 80s back, but rather their childhood innocence that has been ruined in a world of angry politicians worming their way into our lives through our phones and computers and thus bombarding us with negative imagery of nuclear wars and unstoppable plagues and viruses.
In short, these choices are being made by people searching for comfort and control through clothing, as people always have. An opportunity to fit in whilst at the same time retaining individuality through creativity as a direct result of a stressful, oppressive world.
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