SA Fashion Week

Last night I was lucky enough to be invited to an installation at SA fashion week for Cloche  a local milliner who as I discovered is doing some really beautiful work. I had no idea that SA even had any milliners, let alone good ones who haven't emigrated, so her show came wonderful surprise. The pieces were graphic, strongly structured, ornate and heavily embellished in Ethiopean beads and silver filigree on grey felt bases. They were sublime, and immaculately finished. They left me happy for beauty in the world and dreaming of Aztec kings.

After that I had stayed on to watch the next show which was three collections by established designers. These collections were the pole opposite of what I had just seen with Cloche. I am not giving names because what I am about to write is far from complimentary.

To start with, all three could have been done by the same person. Surely a designer wants his or her work to be distinctive and unique? The public should want to buy into a designer's aesthetic because it stirs something in them. That should be a personal thing, and it should not appeal to everyone. These tried to appeal to a mass lowest common denominator. The mindset that if something is dull and mediocre enough everyone will like it purely because it doesn't evoke strong enough feelings for them to hate it.

The design was uninspired and certainly uninspiring. To be honest, I have seen more interesting and original design from first year fashion students and the sketches that some of our matric farewell clients come clutching. There is little that I can actually say about the design because it was so mediocre that it left almost no impression on me with the exception of the discomfort of drop dead boredom.

The fabrics were cheap and generic. Don't get me wrong, I have seen skilled designers do amazing things with really cheap fabrics. These however were all on the theme of cheap cotton twill and t-shirting interspersed with a bit of that horrible printed lycra stuff that should just be jetted out into space and that nasty stretchy net and mesh that I thought we left in the 90's. In order to work well with lower end fabrics, you need to put in the hours searching for something unusual and then ensure that your design and pattern making is top notch. The other problem is that the fabrics in no way worked with, or to emphasise either the design of the garments or the pattern. There was no knowledge of fabrics in these choices. They were most likely chosen because they were easily available and in the correct colours and on budget. Fabric choice is an art in itself and the incorrect fabric can make the best cut look bad. which brings me to the next point.

I am been kind when I say the the cutting was mediocre. The most important part of a garment is the pattern. That is what gives a garment it's design. It is all fine and well to draw a pretty picture, but if you don't have the pattern making skills, nothing will bring it to life.  A pattern needs to be made with intent, not the lackadaisy "lets make a square peg fit a round hole" attitude prevalent here. It was basic but cowardly.  Boxy shapes without the knowledge of draping that can take boxy to a new plane as YSL did in the 60's and also without the ingenuity that would make it them compelling and embellished with random tucks a la Comme de Garcon but toned down to the point where there was no point. They did nothing and added nothing. Design should always be elegant. This was a heavy, clumsy, uncultured hand with a wax crayon clutched in it.

The other hand clutching a grubby wax crayon is the construction and finish of the garments. Yes, the designers were already setting themselves up for disaster by using bad fabrics which are very difficult to get a good finish on. They do not stitch, cut or press well which is making an already overwhelming job that much harder. That aside, the finish of the garments was horrendous, overlocking everywhere, skew hems, lumpy, puckered seams and rippling zips. I would be mortified to ever see a garment of that calibre in my factory and I certainly would not allow it down a runway for the world to see.
Do these people think that no-one knows any better or that no-one will care? There is a particular mindset that seems to have crept insidiously into mainstream thought which says that the quality of creation of a thing, be it a painting or a piece of clothing or even a building is irrelevant and that all that matters is that it had a great concept behind it. Sorry, but the concept is irrelevant if you haven't the skill to give it dignity.

These collections are nothing for the designers to be proud of, they belong in a flea-market stall, not on a runway. And although I know that I should not base my opinion of Fashion Week on three shows, just the fact that lower end street wear (which I would have no problem with in it's place) is given the status of couture and is lauded as an achievement makes me sad. It does however also make me remember why I do what I do.