What makes a style appealing to a wide cross-section of people? In short, what makes a trend? Rather than being all things to all folks, a trend has the ability to connote a range of feelings and values to different people. Like the fluid, robotic creatures in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” a good trend assumes the life of the wearer, but without the terrifying denouement of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s on-screen nemeses.
Menswear, vintage mixing and abbreviated furs exhibit this trait and are likely to take hold this fall.
Borrowing from the boys has long been an attractive alternative to skirts and dresses. Women like the uniformity of menswear, its ability to hide the body and transform it into a sleek machine with architectural lines. Marlene Dietrich, Madonna and Grace Jones proved that women in tailored clothes can be glamorous too. The men’s suit remains the ultimate power suit because by and large white men still hold the cards. To wear it is to literally be cloaked in power.
A nice counterpoint to the square-jawed come-on of menswear is the ripened, come-hither of retro fashion. Instead of focusing on one decade for girly inspiration, designers mix vintages. And while you’d never do this with wine, it works well with clothes. The most popular decades are the 1920s, ’40s, ’50s, ’70s and ’80s. One could take a days-of-the-week approach, changing the look from day to day: On Monday, wear a drop-waist 1920s dress by Diane Von Furstenberg; on Tuesday, a 1950s look from Marc Jacobs; on Wednesday go ’70s sporty with Michael Kors, and so on.
Working several decades into one look can be mastered too; the inspirational decade is in parenthesis. A good place to start is with a soft Marc Jacobs blouse (1950s). Over it goes a Luca Luca leather jacket (1980s). Add one of Ralph Lauren’s full skirts (1950s). Prada round-toe pumps (1930s). Fur-collared, loose coat (1920s).
Speaking of fur, it’s not hard to fathom why it’s so tenaciously popular, once it’s viewed through the prism of a good trend. Fur is definitely not all things to all people. Often it has epitomized glamour. For many, this continues to be its allure. In the right context, immediately celebrity or wealth come to mind. Other women like fur for its newfound ability to broadcast that the wearer is in admirable synchronization with all that is contemporary and now. Far more practical, as any windblown Chicagoan can attest, is fur’s ability to fulfill the human need for warmth. It has been the height of what’s new for a few years, so the challenge is to refresh the look. Capes, stoles, scarves, little jackets provide wonderful answers.
