Bal Masqué for Vogue Paris © Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott
Fashion world is a masquerade, a theater where everyone’s disguised based on a level of one’s reality perception.
At this ball of life one’s “mask” and “costume” need to fit their character and lifestyle, which lately doesn’t happen as much as it should. Clothing makes the first impression. There are some that wear a costume meant for a wrong ball. It’s amusing to see, for example, people of science, a typical professor, rather, whom you’d expect to wear glasses, a tie, a grey suit with some chalk residue or a lawyer in 3 piece suit with perfectly shining shoes wearing a bandana, baggy jeans and 10XL sized sweatshirt. It’s equally awkward to see a street vendor selling hotdogs looking like an English dandy. Although, I’d rather come across the latter.
We, humans, tend, for the most part, to dress, to impress. Although dressing, for certain individuals looks like undressing. Some seem to take this urge to dress a little too far, while others don’t take enough effort; but to each his own, as long as nobody gets hurt. At the end, our perception of fashion is the view through our own “mask”. What I find suiting me, won’t be accepted, or definitely won’t be liked, by a skater, or a goth. It won’t be accepted by an ultra orthodox(of any religion).
Siri Tollerod for Harajuku lover fragrance © D.R.
In the center of our ballroom I would be with the majority of commoners/”orthodox” prêt-a-porter wearers. Then, from both sides troops, wearing utility uniforms (doctors and chefs one one side, and troops on the other), would be separating us from Japanese Harajuku girls and guys, cyberpunks and like, wearing acid-colored/ripped/destroyed shmatas (old used clothing); and also from high couture fashion house lovers in crazy-non-wearable-shaped/ridiculously priced garments. And finally, when the music(life) starts, we all intermix, and there is no way to see who is who, and that what the modern fashion masquerade is about.
Often, many couture clothes look more like costumes made only to entertain others. And I, as a designer, admit it, even though I personally like different color contrasts, shapes and uncommon designs.
Fashion exists in cycles: some trends take only a couple of years to come back, some take decades, some take centuries or even millennium. Seems as if many of these, fortunately and unfortunately, came back to us at once on a mission. Adam and Eve, would easily blend into modern society if they had a chance to visit us, especially Eve, if you know what I mean. Then, we have some individuals that seem to have their pants down their knees, as if they had their pants made after the first unsuccessful try, more than 2500 years ago, when people started riding horses, and those pants just won’t hold on to their waist, and want to join their cotton origins on the ground.
Check out Igor Rozenblyum’s work on
Faux Semblant for Vogue Hommes International © Willy Vanderperre
