Are fashion shows actually meant to represent clothes people wear regularly? Or is it more about the “stunt” designers creates to challenge the status quo? LUKMON OLOYEDE writes on this fashion show notion common even among top fashion designers.
Would you wear a wacky pac-man helmet on a suit? Lobster vest on a short or suit jacket with no pants? These are some of the fashion designs that are increasingly found on the runway. Globally, fashion is a $1.5 trillion dollar industry. It employs millions of people. And while those working in fashion may not be changing the world, they make important contributions to the global economy and impact the daily lives of billions of people around the world.
Fashion has always been a bit strange and unusual. But now the numbers of impractical clothes created seemingly for day-to-day usage in modern is quite shocking. We use clothing as visual aid to express ourselves, to raise awareness, provoke action, and sometimes to condemn or support a cause. And it is with this intent to convey a message that fashion, socialism and style collide. It’s a common knowledge that the world of fashion is fleeting and ever-changing. With each season, trends are introduced, reconstructed, and promptly disposed.
In recent time, we have seen a contrast between the incredibly loud to the impeccably subtle fashion especially on the runway. As much as we are enjoying the retrospectives, fashion is very much about the future and 2015 is already shaping up to look like another exciting year for ready-to-wear.
Just as much as we enjoy the catwalk, music and glitz of fashion runway, some mindboggling trend in recent time is the rate of unwearable designs been displayed at fashion shows.
Findings by BrandiQ revealed that some runway clothing is just to bring attention to the designers’ line of cloths and it is regarded as an exaggerated template for a new style. Runway designs are a form of wearable artwork; the emphasis is on beauty and innovation, not functionality. However, very few of those extravagant and exciting runway pieces are eventually sold.
“They may use some of the colours or fabrics but that’s it – to bring attention. They make the clothes so extravagant, so the fashion show isn’t boring. You are supposed to tone down on the clothing when wearing it in real life, or just take one piece of what they show and incorporate it into your wardrobe”, said Abike Owolabi, a fashion major.
She added that “designers make weird runway shows because they want to be dicey, entertain fashion people, and because if their riskiness ends up sulking, there are seldom consequences. Now, what you buy off the rack from these labels, it is usually not the same thing the designer showed on the runway. It’s commercialized for the outsiders. Designers have to be business people, and they understand that people with the money to buy their things are not going to buy everything the way it is “, shopaholic Annett Okoli said.
According to Sola Oderinde, an Abuja based model, “the clothes worn on a runway are not mass produced, and are made specifically to fit the models. The models are chosen before the specific garment that is made, and is almost always sewn right onto us. However, just like we see at automobile shows, some fashion designs are meant to just create buzz or create a trend with a particular fabric.
“Let’s keep in mind as well that practical clothes are thousands and thousands of dollars cheaper than anything made by a good designer – most of the time, and it would lose that uniqueness if a couture designer made ‘normal’ clothes”.
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