(See what we did there? Like the love child of ‘Got milk’ and ‘You’ve been tangoed’)
Laura Reynolds looks at the hype surrounding the collaboration.
Just a week to go until the man in red arrives...
As ambassadors of our planet we are constantly encouraged to recycle our unwanted paper, plastic and even our old mobile phones. 2009’s ‘High Street’ was no exception in urging us as ambassadors of fashion to recycle trends too. But, should we embrace the rejuvenation of all fashion trends or are there some things that should just stay in the past or be exhibited in moderation?
In the midst of this fashion renaissance, leggings have become more than just the ultimate gym accessory, blazers are no longer just the friends of Melanie Griffiths and platforms no longer have to be paired with a tiny mini dress in homage to the Spice Girls. However horrendous or undignified in their heyday, classic items such as these were (unbelievably) labelled ‘cool’ and it seems their restyled and regenerated selves have so far also been a success. But, with this new found acceptance of the maxi dress being more than a trippy Yoko Ono inspired Halloween costume, in which you would dress accompanied by the rest of The Beatles on a night out in ‘Flares’, are we ready to appreciate this season’s reformations and will we agree with all of them?
Mellow, refined and the ultimate ’girly girl’s’ ready-to-wear label Chloé, disregarded its signature pastel pallet for Fashion Week this year, turning to the deep blues of the humble and trustworthy fabric denim as the next subject in line for a spring make-over . But it remains to be seen if this has actually worked. The ’denim-on-denim’ trend that dominated their collection, debuted in New York encourages us to mix and match tones of the material for our tops AND bottoms - along with a further variety of denim hues patched on knees and elbows. While relatively self explanatory, I am unsure of which kind of image this look is trying to achieve. Some may like the ‘Pippy Longstocking victim of an explosion in a Levi’s factory’ vision, but to my eye it all seems rather unnecessary and as the former simile suggests, actually quite ugly.
I am sure general consensus is the casual yet durable and always reliable material has never been a letdown. Whether flared or skinny, high waisted or hipster, long or short, denim’s simplicity is it’s triumph when paired with anything or any shoe ,sustaining it as a winner and feature of even the dullest of closets.
It seems that Chloé has (however unintentionally) provided us with a valuable lesson in keeping this denim flag flying high, with a reverse psychology in the form of a ‘fashion don‘t‘. If you DON’T want to look like Justin Timberlake in that ‘everything that was wrong with the 90s’ suit, and DON’T want to look like a hillbilly lumberjack and/or Roxy Mitchell then stick to one shade on one outfit and DON’T miss match it.
Over the top as this reaction maybe, it seems however undeniably practical and always on trend, denim isn’t as versatile as we are lead to believe - ironically when placed with… itself! It is not a case of all or nothing though. One doesn’t need a complete denim body suit, or indeed need to remove any trace of it completely from a wardrobe. Choose your preferable half, or even patch of the Chloé look.
Denim remains as popular as it always has been, perhaps thanks to Chloé’s ensembles with endless rails of the stuff in playsuit, shirt and waistcoat form still in mainstream stores and unique boutiques. So we shouldn’t degrade its clever combination of utility and style in undermining the latter by favouring it’s evolution into a raggedy Frankenstein’s monster.
Surely as one of the biggest, freshest contemporary French fashion powerhouses, Chloé’s word must be worthy of some credit and consideration. But what exactly can we read this word to be if disliking it‘s predominant focus is the consensus? We can take from their show the idea of actually using this traditional fabric to update by adding perhaps a denim shirt to a favourite floral top or dress, or start a revival with a positive regression back to jeans, reassuring their position ace over their imitation rival ‘jeggings’ (which are frankly nowhere near as a comfy or as flattering). Here the message is one of a renovation or modernization and adding individual flare with tools that are absolutely right for the job and ones that we already have. Chloé’s reminder of this oldie being a goodie is ultimately persuading fashionistas to ‘go green’ by ’going denim’ – just not the way they did, not all at once.
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