Full transcript of The Podcast by StyleCircle S1, Ep1 below.
B: Welcome to the Podcast by StyleCircle. My name is Bella, and I’m here with,
M: Madeline,
A: And Arushi.
Intermission
B: And you’re listening to Episode 1.
The land where StyleCircle operates has an important history, present and future that we need to understand and acknowledge. This land is called Turtle Island, and it is originally the home of many Indigenous peoples. It is the unceded traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, the Haudenosaunee, the Wendat and the Mississaugas of the New Credit. We acknowledge and respect these nations as the past, present, and future true inhabitant people of this land. What is today known as Toronto is located in the Dish with One Spoon Territory. The Dish with One Spoon is a treaty between the Anishinaabe, Mississaugas and Haudenosaunee that bound them to share the territory and protect the land. We want to recognize that we are sharing this land on which Toronto sits with each other.
Intermission
B: Hey, everyone. So, welcome to The Podcast by StyleCircle. Essentially, we decided to create this podcast as an extension of our web content as well as The Book [by StyleCircle], to give a voice to our creatives. We wanted to produce a product that allows people to feel like they’re a part of important, fun, and random conversations that we’re all having.
I know we’re all home, getting used to all the craziness, getting used to, basically, cabin fever. *laughs* But, we wanted to create something that everyone could feel comfortable with.
So, before we get started into our actual topic, I wanted to see, how are guest hosts are doing today?
A: Doing good, Bella!
M: Yeah, doing good! Like you said, the cabin fever is settling in but we’re going to have to figure out a solution to that sooner or later because this is life.
A: Exactly.
B: Ok. So, I guess before we get really into it, we’re going to introduce ourselves, who we are, so that you guys can get to know us a little bit better.
I’m Bella. I’m a third year Fashion Comm student minoring in News Studies at Ryerson University. It is my second year here at StyleCircle; I started off last year as a writer and I ended up applying to be an Associate Art Director this year, and we decided to start up the podcast again. It was a really fun, collaborative process, and ya, I’m really excited!
M: I’ll introduce myself now. I’m Madeline, I’m a third year Creative Industries student focusing on Fashion and Communication in the program. This is also my second year at StyleCircle; this year and the past year I have been the Director of Operations, which I’ve really liked so far. I was looking forward to The Podcast as a creative outlet to sort of talk with other people about things that interest me.
A: And I am Arushi. I’m a fourth year Fashion Design student at Ryerson, minoring in Entrepreneurship. I’m a Graphic Designer at StyleCircle and its my first year here, so it’s pretty awesome get to be on the podcast here with you ladies, and I’m excited to talk about fashion, talk representation, inclusivity, and all the other amazing things happening in the industry.
B: Awesome, thanks guys! Now we’re going to introduce the amazing people that are behind the scenes of this project, who you guys don’t really get to hear every episode.
So, Sam Cass, who is behind the scenes every single episode, making sure we’re not making a fool out of ourselves. She is in her third year at Ryerson for Fashion Communications, and she is the Creative Director at StyleCircle, which is pretty cool!
Our editor, who has to edit all of our craziness, is Norah Kim! She’s a third year journalism student at Ryerson doing a double minor in Graphic Communication and Film an TV studies. She aspires to tell stories using as many different mediums as she can utilize, and looks forward to her first year at StyleCircle as a writer and Podcast Technician and Media Lead.
Ok. So, we’re going to take a quick break, and when we come back we’ll be discussing some really cool designers from both New York and London Fashion Weeks.
Intermission
B: And welcome back! So, today we’re going to be focusing specifically on New York Fashion Week and London Fashion Week. I asked my co-hosts prior to the show, ‘Which designers do they want to focus on?’, and so we’re going to start off with LRS.
When I was looking on something like Vogue Runway the one thing I did notice was the silhouettes. I know that, especially for New York Fashion Week, it got really political this year— granted with everything that’s been happening. I did notice the silhouettes, and then the use of the American flag.
A: Yeah! I thought it was really interesting because in this collection, I saw an interview on Vogue [saying] the designer had previously focused more on bold visuals and all these striking prints, and they had kind of taken it down in a more refined kind of, you know, the colour palette, and the silhouettes are more focused on tailoring. So that was really interesting to see in a body of work from a designer— that they’re kind of trying something different.
M: Yeah, and I, like Bella had said that the flag is in a lot of the pieces and that its a reflection of our times, you can see that a lot of the fabric has ribbing in it, which I feel is kind of a reference to all of us wearing loungewear and comfier clothing. The fabric choices seem to be a lot more ‘With the times’, rather than being unwearable, in my opinion.
B: Yeah, definitely. Another thing I noticed is that one of the dresses; which is kind of the reason I chose [to feature the designer], its kind of like a blue dress, and the way that it sits on the model looks very much like the statue of liberty.
M: I have that one circle as one that I like.
B: Oh really? Ok, yeah! It was just gorgeous— the way that the pleating sits on her body and it just looks like she is literally a statue.
M: I didn’t even think of that reference, but I totally see it now!
B: I just literally imagined her holding up a light— or what is it, a candle that [the statue of liberty] holds? A torch?
A: Yeah, the draping is really on point. There was this one dress, the striped dress (the red and white one) with all this draping and attention to detail— its great! And then even the patent leather, working with a material like that, and draping that— that’s great!
B: Especially how tight it is to the model’s body as well, and how you can see the gathers and you can see where [the designer] pinched the fabric. On a fabric like latex, to be able to see those little details is really cool.
M: Yeah, and how we’re talking about the flag again, for Mr. Saturday (the other collection we wanted to talk about), he uses the flag in a lot of his pieces, which I think is kind of interesting because he is a Canadian fashion designer from Toronto. Either one of his last menswear looks, one the shorts it says, ‘Don’t shoot’, so he’s really referencing American politics even though he is a Canadian designer, which I think is super important.
A: Yeah, it’s really more about what’s happening right now and less about where you come from.
B: Yeah, definitely! I saw, when I was just looking at all of the designers and the shows and everything, there were so many political pieces— especially for New York rather than London. There were so many references to American politics, the flag, capitalism, and everything that has to do with America, and it is present in Mr. Saturday’s collection as well.
M: I had picked him as a designer originally because he is from Toronto, and I didn’t even realize but, I don’t know if you guys know the YouTuber Allegra Shaw, but he’s her ex-boyfriend.
B: Oh wow!
M: I know!
B: Interesting— the tea!
M: But I picked him because I really liked what he did during the peak of Covid-19. He had a special release of some clothing items from a previous collection where 50% of the sales went to the Toronto Artist Response Fund, and then the other 50% of sales went to helping factories that make supplies for healthcare workers.
B: Oh, that’s so cool!
M: I just liked him for that exact reason; it’s super cool, and I think that it’s important that he does stuff for his hometown, Toronto, even as he’s growing as a designer.
B: Yeah, for sure. I didn’t actually know he was from Toronto until I was getting the images and it ended up just showing up that he was from Toronto. I was surprised because of all the references to American Culture. He was talking about it and he likes to explore New York City night life of the late 70s, early 80s, so I thought that its really interesting that he’s using so many America references, but that he’s Canadian.
A: So, in going back to American politics, I think it’s really interesting to see designers that are doing more unisex looks, especially with what’s happening with the LGBTQIA+ community in the US. It’s nice to see that designers are willing to dress those people that are looking for a specific aesthetic.
B: For sure, there’s been a lot of unisex looks this year, and I know we’re going to be talking about Vivienne Westwood later— the love of my life, I love Vivienne Westwood so much— she also described her new collection as very, like, blurring the lines between the sexes, which I really appreciated.
A: We love to see it, right?
B: We love to see it! Another thing that I thought was interesting, I put in the quote that Mr. Saturday had said about his collection. He said,
“That’s where the initial reference came from, the connection between that time and now. This group of young creatives, that didn’t really have anything, but sort of fantasized and romanticized about having it all. And just being a group of people that wanted to change the world.”
I thought that really encompassed his entire collection really well.
M: And I found another quote from him that says,
“The wearers use the collection as a way to share their story.”
So, I think that’s also kind of going into what you’re saying. He’s saying his clothing is supposed to be worn to help share people’s stories, not just to share his story as a designer.
B: By the way, that quote was pulled from Highsnobiety, if you guys wanted to check out that interview that he did with them— it was really interesting and cool, he had a lot of interesting stuff to say about his collection.
I just like the fact that he’s incorporating the idea of romanticizing and fantasizing, kind of social justice as, I guess, millennials sort of do. It popular to be a social justice warrior, and it was popular in that time, the 70s and 80s, that time he’s sort of referencing. So, I like that he’s kind of bringing in that old perspective into this modern time, now— if that makes sense!
A: Yeah, Bella, I totally agree! Because, you know, with the LA riots that happened years ago, and with what’s happening now with [Black Lives Matter], it’s nice to see that fashion is really a vehicle for change and its being used that way.
B: Yeah, definitely!
So, our last designer that we are going to talk about, Arushi actually chose, if you wanted to introduce them.
A: Yeah! So, the last designer for New York Fashion Week PH5. They’re relatively new and they are out of New York, and it’s a knitwear brand. They have been doing a collection which is based around the Australian bush fires. There’s a new designer on at PH5, her name is Zoe Champion, and she’s and Australian native from Sydney. So, she was really inspired by the bush fires and all the tragic loss that had happened there.
She decided that she wanted to create a collection this year which was showing the idea of rebirth through the Awabakal community, which is an Indigenous community in Australia. Their whole thing is that they do a ceremony which revolves around using fire as a vehicle for regeneration and revitalizing the land.
They used this really interesting motif print in their designs this year, which was a fiery motif with corals and reds, and they had another colour way in blue— kind of like the hot and cold fires. Basically, what they said in an interview with Vogue was that the hot fires are like the black smoke, it represents this fear and danger— a fire that’s not good. A cool fire is with white smoke, and it’s a controlled fire which they use in their ceremonies and that regenerates and heals [the land].
They had done a video for PH5 where they interviewed women of the Awabakal community; and it’s a great video that I would recommend you all check out, because it was really well done.
All the knits are made with eco-friendly yearns… What did you guys think of it?
M: I watched the video, and I really liked it. I thought it was super well done in that they incorporated the Indigenous people who they are speaking for. In a sense, I feel like it could’ve been taken poorly if they hadn’t done it that way, and so they’ve checked off all the boxes to avoid cultural appropriation.
And, I really liked the prints. The third image that we have, the blue one with the pants and the slits in the leg; that was my favourite one by far!
B: I’d never heard of PH5 prior to this.
M: Neither had I.
B: When I looked them up originally, the first thing that I saw were their dresses. They’ve incorporated the same silhouette in this collection, but it’s kind of like an asymmetrical bottom that’s kind of really wavy. The dress that basically hugged the body— it just looked so comfortable, it looked so soft, and it looked really versatile as well, for something being knitwear.
A: It’s interesting because in their past collections, the silhouettes were a lot more, actually, unique, I would say. I think in this collection it’s more focused on the colours and really showing the bush fires, the inspiration from that within the motif. The silhouettes are still beautiful, but it’s definitely more focused on the colours and prints.
B: Yeah, definitely. I think it’s a really strong motif that they used, and their colour palette I think is also really strong.
M: Yeah, definitely! And especially, Arushi, after how you explained that Vogue articles and the colour choices, that, obviously, I didn’t get from the video, but, now that you’ve explained that, it makes sense as to why they picked those two colours. This could be totally not what they’re implying, but at the end of the video, I don’t know if you remember how there’s that woman in the all-black outfit which we see at the end, but I kind of took that as like, the embers after the fire.
A: Nice!
M: That could be so out there, but I feel like the video told a story, and I got the story.
A: Yeah, definitely. I love that they used the women of the community in the video and that they used them as models. They were all different ages, different body types— it was great to see!
B: I also really liked that they were interacting with the land around them in the images. It wasn’t only in the video, but also in the images on Vogue Runway and everything. You can see the women, they’re dancing, they’re moving, they’re performing their ceremonies and they’re interacting with the land around them and I think its really beautiful. And, the way the clothes move really emphasizes this.
A: It was a beautiful video.
B: Yeah.
M: Thanks so much, Bella and Arushi for bringing forth your ideas and what you’ve gathered from the shows. LRS and PH5 were both new designers for me, so I liked how you guys brought them use so I could see more of what the industry is doing.
I think we can really clearly see how all three designers are using what’s going on in today’s world to inspire their looks. I feel like previously, a lot of designers have made it very explicit as to what inspires their looks, but it’s very clear in today’s fashion industry as to where everyone is getting their inspiration from.
B: So, starting off London Fashion Week, we’re going to start with Vivienne Westwood, who Arushi actually recommended, which I was really happy about because I love Vivienne Westwood.
A: You’re welcome!
B & A: *laughs*
A: The reason why I recommended Vivienne Westwood was because there’s been a lot of controversy around her and greenwashing, actually. Did you know anything about that Bella?
B: I actually don’t know anything about the specific greenwashing scandal— if you could elaborate, that would be interesting!
A: So basically, in the last few year, Vivienne Westwood has been really into the whole sustainability movement— which is really awesome. But there’s been a lot of talk around how she talks a lot about [sustainability], but doesn’t implement what she’s talking about.
B: I see.
A: So, I don’t know, I don’t really know all the details, but I do know that some people are for her, and some people are like, “What is she doing?”
B: Well, I know, I didn’t hear anything about that specifically, but I know she is all about the sustainability movement and more of the, like, slow fashion movement, so that’s really interesting to hear, and I definitely need to do more research about that, because… wow! *laughs*
A: Yeah but I mean, there’s opinions galore about it. But I really like to hear that this year she said that she’s aiming to do one collection per year.
B: Yeah, so I guess that kind of proves the point that she’s trying to enforce more sustainable practices. But, once again, is she doing that because of the controversy of everyone being like, “You’re not actually doing that”, or is she doing it because she genuinely wants to be a sustainable brand?
M: It’s interesting that you guys are asking, “Is she doing it for the press or is she doing it because she wants to do it?”, because an article from Paper Mag that I read about the show was talking about how the collection of prints on the fabrics is from a friend of her’s, Chrissie Hynde (I think that’s how you say it), but that Chrissie never sent an invoice to Vivienne Westwood for the work, she instead asked her to make a donation to, I think it was a dairy farm for cows that’s ethical. So, it’s kind of wondering, “Oh, she could have just kept that private. Did it need to be publicized?” So, is she just trying to get in the good books with everyone now, after that scandal?
B: Yeah, that’s a little interesting. See, that’s the thing is that when all these scandals come out, you really look at designers— and people in general— in a different light because everything they do after [a scandal] is just like, you question it, like, “Are you just doing this because people are saying that you’re being fake about it, or are you doing this because you genuinely want to be a part of a movement?”, you know?
M: And I think that it’s so hard to know that line for designers, because I think that there’s probably some people who we think are the most genuine humans ever, and they’re not.
B: Oh, a hundred percent!
M: And then, other people make one mistake, and it’s just downhill from there.
A: I bet with her that it’s kind of always been that way. She’s always been kind of, you know, a rebel. So, we’ve always had these kinds of issues with her.
B: She’s always been known as being kind of, like, wacky and out there and outspoken, so, I guess it is very Vivienne Westwood to kind of be controversial like this. But moving onto the actual collection, I really enjoyed the colours, I thought that they were beautifully done, and I loved the silhouettes and the prints in particular. I know mentioned that your friend did them, Madeline—I didn’t know that, but I love the prints, they’re gorgeous!
M: Yeah, and I love like, the clashing of prints that’s been done. I feel like that’s easier when you have the same designer doing all of your prints, because, probably, a lot of other designers source from a lot of different printmakers, but with this one, she was probably able to tell her friend, “I want a print that looks like this because I want it to go with this print.” She really plays with the prints and I think that’s so fun, like, every look is fun!
A: And the use of colour within gendered fashion, I think again with the unisex movement is really great here. I think it’s nice to see again that a lot of the fashion is unisex in her collection.
B: She did an interview that I saw with Vogue about this collection and she basically said that she was really inspired by the punk movement, which also involved a lot of gender-bending dressing. You can kind of see that with the chunky shoes, the really hefty prints—also I really like the clown makeup for some of them, I think that’s really fun as well!
M: Yeah, and it’s like, with the third look, you already see the clown makeup so it was incorporated into [the collection], it wasn’t like one look at the end had it as the showstopper. It was everywhere, which I thought was a cool addition that you wouldn’t see normally.
B: I also saw that the models were all artists from the UK, so I thought that was really fun and cool that she did that instead of using regular models.
A: It’s nice for diversity, which is something that, again, is really nice to see.
B: I feel like the world is changing so much, and so is the industry, so why just stick to, “We’re just going to do another runway show”, you know?
M: I think that when you end up using real people as your models, you get more authentic movement. Even with the PH5 film, I don’t think that would have been the same if it hadn’t been those individuals being a part of it, and same here. I think that an artist would bring such a different perspective to wearing the clothing than your ‘Joe Average’ model would.
A: I was just going to say that, especially with this year and Covid-19, it’s a year to be more creative and use different people as models and do different kinds of runway presentations.
B: I remember also reading that there’s nothing extremely political with this line, it’s not like a ‘punch in the face’ kind of political. However, in her look-book video (because she didn’t do a runway, she did a video), she filmed a portion of it in front of a specific UK building that people are protesting in front of.
M: Yeah, I saw that. I was wondering what it was about, but again, didn’t know enough about it.
B: That’s all the information I know, but that was one of the more political aspects of this specific collection. Rather than incorporating [politics] into the clothes, she did it in the look-book video.
Someone else who actually used frontline workers as their models was our next brand, Halpern. I know that the images that I provided you guys with were of one generic model, but if you look, he does multiple other photos with those garments on frontline workers from the UK. I thought that was really cool as well.
A: Yeah, there was a really great video about it as well! This collection was created without a particular theme in mind, and he had actually made bespoke garments for the frontline workers based on their personalities. So, it’s one thing to say you’re going to do bespoke garments, and it’s another thing to do them well. In the video, the clothes fit so well on these workers—they looked amazing! The fabrics were beautiful, the seams were all in place, and that attention to detail is just really nice to see.
M: And I think that for frontline workers to get a special treat like that. Probably a lot of them haven’t had the experience shopping where everything is tailored exactly to their body, and it’s not like they’re having scrubs tailored to fit them, or grocery workers having a nice new shirt to wear to work—it was fun garments. Maybe they’ll never have anywhere to wear them, but its such a special memento to give them.
B: Especially right now.
A: Yeah, they were very fantastical garments, and it shows that they’re not just frontline workers, but that they’re people and they can wear whatever they want.
B: Yeah, they’re people in beautifully couture looking gowns—it’s great! I really liked the circle silhouettes, like, literally a circle. *laughs* I thought that was so fun! I like that their legs look like little toothpicks under this dress—it’s great!
But I actually didn’t know that there wasn’t a specific theme and that it was a bespoke collection. But that does make sense, because for the other shows that we’ve reviewed so far, I feel like you kind of look at it and initially see the vibe they’re going for, whereas I opened this and noticed the high energy and a happiness. Everyone was smiling, and it was just fun. There’s no heavy theme to it, it’s just like, “Have fun in these clothes!”
A: Yeah, it was more about the people for sure!
B: Yeah, exactly!
M: And I think you can see that in the facial expressions of the model we’re looking at, she’s jumping and moving with the clothing, she’s not just standing there, looking almost lifeless.
B: Exactly, particularly in this collection I enjoyed when he incorporated the plaid at the end—that’s probably my favourite.
M: I love the pink and black feathers. I don’t know why but I think it’s so fun, and it’s probably, well it’s a dress, and if it were to walk down a runway, the movement would’ve been beautiful.
B: Also, that green on this model’s skin tone is absolutely gorgeous.
Moving on to our last designer for Fashion Week, I wanted to talk about Matty Bovan. When I initially clicked on the images, I immediately noticed that he didn’t use any models—he used mannequins. I discovered that all the textiles that he used were from his previous collections, just like, the leftovers from them, and he filmed himself making this collection, just pinning the fabrics onto the mannequins, which I thought was so cool.
A: Yeah, I found that really interesting because the garments are more avant-garde. But seeing the process and seeing that he did almost all the work himself; it just makes it more attainable; I think. You can be a small designer and do everything on a small scale.
I’d never heard of Matty Bovan before, so, it’s really nice to see that there are these smaller designers who are still able to produce these beautiful, avant-garde, interesting garments.
B: And he also mentioned in, I think it was an article in Vogue where he was talking about the collection and being in isolation, and how this collection is a way for him to stay sane because he needs to be able to use his hands and do things. So, it was kind of like him filming himself to show that he’s a person also dealing with staying home, isolation—all that stuff.
M: And I think that that’s interesting because I feel like a lot of people might look at the fashion industry and feel like it’s not necessary to produce a collection right now because there are so many other world problems going on, so, why would you waste money and resources and time on that. But like you said, for Matty, this was his therapy, essentially, and he just happened to make a body of work out of it. So, I think it’s important to remember that everyone is coping with this differently, and for a lot of fashion designers, they wanted to work and this is just how he happened to create a massive collection.
I had read an article from WWD saying that this collection was supposed to be inspired by Britain, which I think you can see in a lot of the silhouettes. There’s military references and old Marie-Antoinette style dresses; which, it’s interesting, I think, that he was able to obtain those silhouettes with just scrap fabrics.
B: Oh, yeah, I think that’s excellent! And even that last dress with the sequins, is it sequins? I think it’s sequins.
A: The red one?
B: Yeah.
A: I think so, I think it’s a sequin fabric.
B: I think it is, yeah. So, the sequin red dress, I don’t know what he did to make the hips look that big, but it really looks like a person is wearing it with the way that it’s draped and just sitting on the mannequin.
A: I feel like that is a hard thing to do because he didn’t use actual people. It’s hard to imagine clothes on a human; which I think is a huge struggle right now with Covid-19 and designers not using actual models. It can be difficult to see how a fabric would move and how it would look on a person—but I think he’s done it really well here.
B: Yeah. It looks homemade, but it looks so artistic and purposeful.
M: And I don’t think that, if you hadn’t told someone that he’d pinned these from scraps and stuff—pretty much taking trash and turning it into a look –that they would say that at first glance. Instead, it would just look like a designer using a bunch of different fabrics one a piece.
B: Yeah, exactly.
A: I was looking for this article that I had read where he was talking about how he’s not concerned with what’s going to sell this year—which is really important, I think.
B: Yeah, I saw that as well!
M: I think that shows again that he was just doing this to make himself feel better. He had no intentions of making a profit this year, and for designers, it’s important to recognize that consumers’ values are changing.
I’ve tried to slow down on my shopping because I feel like my closet is massive, and I’ve become so much more conscious with each purchase that I’m making, like, “Do I really need this? Is it unlike something else that is already in my closet?”, and I think slowly, designers are realizing that that’s how it’s going to be moving forward—that we’re not going to be buying a new dress every time we have a party to got to.
A: I mean, this whole conversation, we’ve been talking about really high-end, luxury garments, and it’s important to recognize that there might not be a need for that for a long time.
M: Yeah, like, when are we going to a party?
A: Exactly.
B: But definitely it is really cool what he’s doing and the sustainability aspect of it as well in taking all the old fabric from his old collections. Also, I think it is sort of nostalgic that he was at his house, took all the old fabric from his old collections, and he pinned it to these garments to make a new thing—I think that’s just really nice.
M: Yeah, and I think that his way of trying to be sustainable is way better than Vivienne Westwood using eco-friendly fabrics. I can see where she might have been called out for greenwashing whereas with his work, I think he’s doing so much to reduce his environmental footprint, versus her being like, “Oh, I’m reducing it a little bit.”
A: And that’s what I was saying is that its more attainable; you can see that this guy—the garments might be crazy and absolutely, “Who is going to wear this?”—but its inspiring to know that you can mend your own clothes, you can repurpose your own clothes… so, I hope that people, every day people, are looking at this and thinking, ‘This is possible for me.”, “If I have a sewing needle and thread, I can do this.”
B: Ok, so, for everyone that’s watching Fashion Week, or Fashion Month, essentially, they can see that these big artists and designers out there are able to do all these things and use their voices and make statements with their clothes and not really care about the profit that comes at the end of it.
M: Yeah, and I think that designers are being purposeful with their designs this fashion week. I’d imagine no designer is putting out a look that they didn’t seem to be worthwhile, or that wouldn’t serve a purpose to the people. Like, why waste your time right now making a collection if you didn’t want to share a story? Even how, with Halpern’s, there is no theme to [the collection], but even him doing it for frontline workers is a theme.
B: I think it should be more like this as we continue through the years where designers come out with purposeful collections, because I feel like that’s been lacking for so long because they’ve been having to produce so much so quickly. I feel like Covid-19 was, just for everyone in the world, to stop for a second, but especially in the fashion industry it was like, “We need to slow down—this is not working, this is not sustainable.” And so, you see so many designers now being like, “I’m only doing a collection a year.”, or, “…two collections a year.”, just how it was originally, when collections were more purposeful, when they were more artistic.
M: And I think, fashion aside, once we get through Covid-19, all of the things we’ve missed out on, we’ll cherish so much more. So, I think when that one collection comes out, it’ll be so exciting, because it won’t be like the last Fashion Week was two months ago.
A: Although [Covid-19] is definitely an awful thing, it’s also a huge wake-up call. I don’t think a lot of people know that fashion is one of the biggest polluters, it’s one of the biggest polluting industries ever, so, this was really important, I think, because fashion weeks, sending models down the runway… it’s honestly just a very outdated concept. It’s expensive, and originally, fashion week was made to get buyers together and sit in the front row, picking the clothes that are going to go into stores. And now, it’s just become this huge event for influencers to attend and take photos. It’s just outdated. So, this is a huge kick in the butt to slow it down—it’s good! Essentially, it’s good.
B: Slow it down, and also make it purposeful. Like, when you’re making a show, make a show! I want to see everything! Like an Alexander McQueen show—that kind of energy. Like, “This is amazing!”, “This is beautiful!”, that energy of “I’ve never seen this before!” I think we also need that.
M: And I think, maybe some designers might be worried about that whole anticipation of runway shows live, the lack of control. With these films that we’ve seen, you’re making edits, so maybe you’re taking out stuff that would’ve had to stay in if it were a live show. I think you get to be a lot more purposeful with how you display the information, and it becomes a lot more artistic.
Like with Mr. Saturday, it looks like a DIY home video, but there was definitely so much thought put into the camera angles and the equipment; because it was supposed to be like a security recording, like CCTV. I think that, again, references American politics, in a way, like always being watched—which I thought was so cool—and it looked like a grainy video, like an old family camera was recording it, though it definitely wasn’t. It’s again, being more artistic with choices that you can’t control during a live fashion show.
A: Yeah, it’s much more controlled, you can be so much more artistic. You’re putting money into something so that it will have a better outcome, instead of fifteen minutes on a runway—that’s crazy!
B: Literally! Think about the amount of people that they fly down to watch these shows. All that fuel, everything, for a show that, 90% of the time is late, and only lasts fifteen minutes. It’s crazy.
M: And honestly, I would probably feel, as a designer, more satisfied watching a film be made with my work in it, rather than standing backstage, really stressed out as the models are going down the runway. I think you get to embrace your work more when you’re making a fashion video, versus watching it go quickly down a runway.
A: I can speak to that too because I’ve done many shows showcasing my own work. I did one show where I got to sit in the audience—that was amazing! Like, I didn’t have to do anything, it was great! So, I can appreciate that too.
B: Especially, I feel like every time a runway happens, the designer runs out at the end in this raggedy outfit, all stressed out, and they’re like, “Hi!”, and then they wave like, “Thanks for watching!”, and then they run back in. I feel like [videos] give designers the credit that they deserve in terms of how much work actually goes into producing a collection.
A: That moment of running out is the most awkward thing ever! Let me tell you right now, I hate it! I have a video of me running for literally two seconds and then just going back.
B: I feel like, even though I’m not a designer, I need to do a run out! I need to do one run out.
A: You can do it for me! You can say that you’re me, and then just do that part.
M: Honestly, true. You could send out anyone when it’s a designer’s turn to wave, because most of the time you don’t even know the face of a designer if you’re not fully into the brand. So, yeah, Bella is Arushi now.
B: Bella is Arushi, Arushi is Bella. *laughs*
Something specifically about London Fashion Week that we didn’t really get to touch on, next episode we’re going to see with Milan and Paris is that it’s very much the mainstream, very much the old brands. Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Moschino—very that. I feel like London and New York give us an opportunity to look at new designers, new talent, and just really cool people. Half of these designers I’d never heard of.
M: Same!
A: Especially New York.
B: Yes, especially New York! [New York Fashion Week] always has such cool up-and-coming designers, and I feel like it’s so important, especially for people at home to be aware that there’s not just Chanel and Dior and all these things, like, there’s so many people out there who do such amazing, beautiful, sustainable work—I think that we should all pas attention to it.
A: Yeah, and a lot of the time, those are the people who can afford to take the risk. They can afford to design something more interesting than someone at Chanel or Louis Vuitton.
B: Yeah, exactly.
Thank you, guys, so much for tuning in to The Podcast by StyleCircle. Please let us know which designers really stood out for you this London and New York Fashion Week; we really would love to hear it!
This has been Bella,
M: Madeline,
A: And Arushi…
B: …for The Podcast by StyleCircle. Subscribe to continue listening to new episodes of The Podcast every 2 weeks on Spotify, Apple Music, and Apple Podcasts. The Podcast is produced by StyleCircle and hosted by Isabella Papagiannis, Madeline Pelley, and Arushi Chopra. Administration is by Samantha Cass, Media Production is by Norah Kim, Music Arrangement is by Particle House.
