Revisiting nostalgic and vintage fashion looks

Fashion is no stranger to paradox. If, by definition, it describes an era or even an immediacy, it has never been reluctant to look back. Like desire, fashion harbours its own death and its own inevitable replacement, where even the idea of seasonality revolves around this perpetual cleansing by the void. The nostalgic tendency has nonetheless always been there, from Marie Antoinette’s devotion to the simplicity of antiquity to Yves Saint Laurent and his 1971 collection Libération, the first real retro manifesto by a fashion designer. More recently, the appetite for vintage has gone from being an insider’s art to becoming part of the mainstream. Some big names are reliving their youth in the design studios that copy outright or rely heavily on the originals for inspiration. Anne-Marie Beretta, Kansai Yamamoto, Claude Montana and Helmut Lang are more sought after today than when they were actively de-signing. The same goes for Jean-Paul Gaultier, a designer whose value on the vintage market sometimes exceeds the original price. This is certainly what has prompted some labels to take back control and to embrace this feverish nostalgia with a certain aplomb. Some dare to self-reference, such as Tom Ford who, for summer 2018, was inspired by his own creations for Perry Ellis and Gucci from the early 90s.

More subtle is Miuccia Prada, who breathed new life into a silk brocade that she had used a decade earlier. Neither laziness nor thrift but a challenge to the scheduled obsolescence of ready-to-wear, lest it be systematically discarded or forgotten. The most shared image of fashion in recent years is without doubt the final Versace runway show, with Donatella surrounded by the original 90s supermodels, proud fifty somethings and demi-goddesses in golden mesh dresses. More than the emotion and tribute to a beloved brother gone twenty years ago, this image proves above all the success of an almost timeless style. To support this notion, the blonde icon chose to step down from her role as designer and to instead reissue a few of the most iconic prints created by Gianni Versace between 1991 and 1995. For this collection entitled Versace Tribute, the cuts were barely altered to fit today’s standards and a next generation of models whose measurements are closer to 80/60/85 than the famous 90/60/90 of yesteryear. For those who have neither the means nor the audacity to dress entirely in baroque, animal, pop art or shell prints, the Italian brand thoughtfully reissued said prints on T-shirts available with a single click of the mouse. “Introducing his de-signs and making them accessible to a new generation is the greatest tribute that I could give my brother”, said Donatella. Assured commercial triumph and clever storytelling for a label which was once considered avant-garde. Helmut Lang, the man as well as the brand, has always been subjected to cult status.

This celebration of ‘the good old days’ therefore has its own logic and rewards us with a real intellectual payoff

And it’s with good reason when we (re)discover the ex-tent to which the majority of his designs have aged gracefully. Part of the Japanese group Link Theory since 2006, it has finally reconnected with its stellar past, showing it is still relevant, in just two acts. On the one hand a precise reinterpretation by a guest designer (the brilliant Shayne Oliver took on the task last September) and, on the other hand, the rerelease of fifteen iconic pieces, such as the metallic motorcycle jacket, picked out of the archives by Isabella Burley in a new spirit of curatorship.

The underlying idea is indeed to restore visibility and legitimacy to a brand whose past exploits are still widely current and just as widely plagiarised. In other words, as long as we have a Helmut Lang jacket, provided that it bears the Helmut Lang label! Another media-friendly rebirth, that of Katharine Hamnet, who has reissued for online purchase some of her unisex models created in 1982-83. At Kenzo, the archives have always been at the heart of things for Humberto Leon and Carol Lim, creative directors since 2011.

They have also managed to pacify the previously strained relationship with Kenzo Takada, the brand’s founder. With their second collection Kenzo Memento – “I remember”, in Latin! – they re-visit certain pieces of workwear and denim that graced the catwalks in 1986. “This is not simple nostalgia but a desire to introduce generation Z to Kenzo designs. And when we talk about Kenzo, it is not a brand which was born six years ago with Carol and myself”, adds Humberto Leon, quite rightly. What’s more, the specific Kenzo Memento label is an embroidered version of The Great Wave off Kanagawa, the famous apocalyptic print by Hokusai, an artist who is inseparable from Japan and therefore from the brand’s origins. This celebration of ‘the good old days’ therefore has its own logic and rewards us with a real intellectual payoff. For all that, it’s most likely not the best way to use new talent and plan for a future which does more than simply repeat the past