Resort '14: Balenciaga, Alexander Wang, Christopher Kane, J.W Anderson, Sportmax, Maxmara, 10 Crosby Derek Lam, The Row
The title of this post is not alluding to the idea that I may have misconstrued one of the above models for either of my grandmothers; that would be worrying to say the least (albeit slightly comforting since it would suggest the women in my family age well, when in actual fact we just get shorter and louder). The title of this post is in fact referring to the sense of well-aged, demure responsibility seen in the most recent Resort collections that followed the slightly more bare-all RTW shows from last season.
While perusing the latest Resort shows I felt generally closer to the senior community as a whole. Balenciaga and its eclectic grandma, you know, the one who just doesn’t want to wear pants. That kind of ‘I’ll wear what I damn well please because I look like a raisin and there is nothing you can do about it’ attitude that 90% of the human population lacks, I believe the Spanish call it ‘cojones’. It felt odd that something rather strange and conventionally socially unacceptable still retained a sense of maturity. I’m going to attribute the majority of that to the hat, though. Like Balenciaga, many of the collections merely adopted conventionally 'Grandma-like' accents like the neckerchief (see Derek Lam and Maxmara) while others were more bold, like J.W. Anderson, livening an otherwise swamping, demure silhouette with blinding colors and thus retaining it’s originality and excitement. Wang and Kane were more partial to Grandpa with tailored suits and what can only be described as the ultimate Grandfather cardigan. Sportmax followed suit (pun
totally intended) with a subtle slipper, chino and jumper ode that I know we’ve all seen come family gatherings. Odd, you may think, that something we usually view as sartorially unacceptable has become something so refreshing when the media is constantly shoving sexy down our throats. I take your sexy, society, and raise you one pair of animal print loafers.
Initially, I did feel oddly surprised by how much I liked the whole concept. We constantly find ourselves pushed to be current, modern, hip, trendy, suave, ziggidy, damn fine and whatever other 21st colloquialism for ‘young’ you can find; It was refreshing for this season to remind us that sometimes being conventionally cool can best be achieved by aiming at the complete opposite. The suits were effortless, clean, sharp and original purely because they aimed to look at a rarely considered age range that we don't often turn to for inspiration at 7am on a Monday morning while getting dressed. The juxtaposition between these traditional shapes and concepts and their younger counterparts (see: bright blue cap, leather pants, jelly sandals) derived a whole new aspect from two older ones, challenging us to realize that innovative ideas do not necessarily lie in brand new ideas. Balenciaga offers a kind mediator for those whole truly do feel a need to satisfy their inner crazy grandma, because don't we all?
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