3/25/23

Hello all. I hope you had as good of a week as I wished you would. I've heard a lot of people talking about how energy has definitely shifted, I'm personally saying it's Spring, though I'm sure there is something in the stars that confirms it, even though no planets are in retrograde. However, I think we overlook the power that changing seasons can have on our psyche. This is all very based on my own mindset, but the years being sanctioned into four quarters I think allows us to really access the energy, not even just in a spiritual way, that is being put forth by nature changing around us. We all experience seasonal depression in the winter, and Autumn is a good lead-up to that, but there are still the colors for most of the season, the grass hasn't quite died off, and the excitement for cold weather is still excitement, and yet to be turned into instant anger at the actual pain the weather in December and January can cause. Spring is the opposite. The sun stays out longer and you begin having more time to do things throughout it. Laying outside in just shorts, and a T-shirt, if you're a woman with boobs, becomes an option to pass the time again. The warm air starts breathing life back into your skin, your eyes are less hollow and your lips aren't always so chapped. But something I realized a little while ago is how much I as a person change the way I present myself to the world. 

Quite obviously, different seasons call for different styles, different color pallets, and different clothing altogether. For the past few years, I go in a cycle, Winter to Autumn, of sleazy baggy earth tones, to hippie '70s, to indie skate-wear, before circling back to cyberY2K darks and maroons. Again, obviously, my style is not everyone else's, and as spring has approached and begun, we get the cool opportunity to see what styles are rearing their heads once again. Yes, that was my transition to talking about fashion. Wasn't it smooth though?

 Johnny Cirillo, as some of you may have already heard, is a New York-based photographer who gained a huge following after posting some of his work on Instagram and TikTok. Known for his fashion photography, Cirillo is mainly, as far as I know, street-based, and posts long reels of what people are wearing in the streets of NYC. For people like me, people like him are greatly appreciated, as his work is one of the best ways to fully understand and see what current streetwear trends are, especially in today's age when it seems like streetwear has a larger influence on designer collections than vice versa, as it has been throughout all time prior. However, even if that is the case, what makes Cirillo's work so important to me, is that it almost has a way of accurately depicting trends long before they even become trends, a job previously denoted to designer collections and their fashion forecasters. Black, is a great example. Black is one of those colors that definitely never go out of style, but there are objective patterns and cycles in which it is significantly more trendy than it usually tends to be. If you see Cirillo's most recent post (@watchingnewyork on Instagram), it shows how black is being worn recently, but beyond just that post, scroll and look at how many posts aren't centered around black outfits that still heavily rely on the color. Now the interesting part is looking at recent Fall 2023 collections and noticing the similarities. I mentioned earlier this year that denim and leather are quickly on the rise, as fashion classics become the center of attention for a short while, and that seems to be the remaining case. Additionally, and why I mentioned black, nearly every major collection for this season has featured significant uses of the color, including monochromatic shoe-to-hat looks in all-black, simple yet chic black dresses, black coats, black pants, and of course all black accessories. What's more, it seems many collections are centering around monochrome or at least solid-colored pieces (because even though a lot of featured looks are monochrome I can't in good faith say I think monochrome is the next big trend because one can't assumes everyone is going to style said looks exactly as they were on the runway. Obviously.).

You may be asking yourself "why is this important?" and I will tell you. When examining the fashion industry you have three key places to examine; streetwear, retail, and runway. Streetwear is obviously the majority of what is commonly being worn, and now is probably the best way to see what the trends are, especially in places like NYC or Berlin, or London in which individualistic self-expression is not repressed, specifically in terms of fashion. Retail, which I don't think is what it's called professionally, is the middle ground. It's trends being sold to us, similar to designers, but because of the sheer amount of things being sold to us, it's not always quite so on trend, and is more a summary of what's being worn, and by a specific group of people. And designer, which I feel until recently was the best way to see trends as kind of the source for what people thought peak fashion was. The reason I bring this all up is that I realized with this recent upload of Fall 2023 collections, and the constant exposure of streetwear trends you can literally see what designers are predicting for fall is already starting to be worn. I think this is why designer fashion has been so hit and miss in the recent present. As "fashion" becomes increasingly broader, trends become smaller, styles become harder to pin down as a single, definable style, and there's no real "fashion" to predict for the runway. 

However, I do have to give credit where it's due. In my opinion runway, fashion is not at all actually negative, as aware as I am of how negatively I talk about a lot of it. While I am overtly overly critical of the industry, possibly out of bitterness for my experiences in getting a degree in it, or my father's admittedly communist lectures to never trust any "business" that has one person making so much money off of it (which is one of the few things my dad and I genuinely agree on), I also genuinely love clothes. For every critique and negative comment I make about one collection, there are usually three more I'm obsessing over. And with that, Mia Goth and Ethel Cain were on the same runway for Miu Miu. I hated styling the leggings to come over the skirts. That's the only negative thing I'll say about it. The collection felt like an '80s suburban house. Not the bright neon 80s, the real bland, brown and cream, and black and grey. I love that it seems like they're expanding more. They definitely have a very clear brand aesthetic, but with some of the very unique looks they released this season, they're doing a lot more with it than I remember. Whatever material it was, I'm assuming some kind of latex or rubber, that designer Miuccia Prada used for those weird little dresses, as well as the same material used for equally-unique jackets were one of my favorite parts overall. Prada said the inspiration was basically layering, which explains the overlayed leggings, so, as one would assume they would, they layered almost every look minus a few cute dresses, and with the contrasting styles, a short skirt paired with a large hoodie and equally large jacket over that. Overall the collection was definitely memorable in Miu Miu's history, and probably top 10 of the ones I've seen recently.

I'm tired. 

The media of the week is Lana. I don't feel like that needs to be said. Kate, and definitely me, hosted a listening party last night, and multiple of my friends cried. Myself not included. Kate and I feel like the overarching story is one tied to grief, but more the concept than the emotion. It sounds like grief, for lost loved ones, but also for her older self, which is why I think she sang a lot more in the past-tense, storytelling. Anyway, I've also been watching the Mandalorian, largely because I need Pedro Pascal. However, it is very enjoyable. 

Alright, I'm done. My references page will be updated at some point after I upload, so if you want to see any of the stuff I was talking about, check later in the day. But for now, goodbye. I love you, I wish you the best real start of Spring week.

XOXO

~Christian Reid