Words by Diana Weis

Diana Weis: The Queen Of F*cking Everything

In his essay, Philosophy of Fashion, published in 1905, German sociologist Georg Simmel pointed out an inherent contradiction that has not yet been resolved. All fashion, he wrote, is born out of the antagonism of equalizing unification and individual demarcation deeply rooted in human nature. Or, to put it more bluntly: Everybody wants to be special and, at the same time, everybody wants to be like everyone else. While there is glamor in uniqueness, there’s also loneliness. And while community offers safety, it also imposes limitations.

Images by Isla Berlin

Words by Diana Weis

The direction in which the pendulum is swinging at any given time says a lot about the state of society. When eccentricity is tolerated, even celebrated, there is an open culture that allows individuals to freely assert their independence. Uniformity, on the other hand, is a sign of cultural repression, fear and envy.

 

While fashion in the TikTok age is defined by restlessness spitting out microtrend after microtrend, style overall has undergone a certain blandification: between the die-hard #cleangirl aesthetic, last year’s quiet luxury megatrend, the normalization of cosmetic procedures and the rise of trad wife content, everything conspicuous is levelled out, faces and looks blurring into an endless parade of white teeth, smooth skin and crisp minimalism, offset with just the right dosage of unthreatening quirkiness.

Is eccentricity a faux pas in challenging times?
Author Flora Meadmore writes that the societal view of female eccentrics especially serves as a kind of litmus test for the current state of feminism. When women interrupt the norm, the question of nature vs. nurture becomes more apparent.
Eccentricity can become a weapon. Boldly daring to stand out required bravery, especially for women who are still routinely characterized as feisty, shrill, or hysterical. When fashion icon Isabella Blow, discoverer of Alexander McQueen and muse of hat designer Philipp Treacy, was asked about her love for expansive head pieces, she replied:
“I wear hats to keep people away. They say, ‘Oh, can I kiss you?’ I say, ‘No, thank you very much. Goodbye.’ I don’t want to be kissed by all and sundry. I want to be kissed by the people I love.”

The idea of fashion as a gesture of rejection, as self-exaltation to a work of art, does not bode well with the current cultural climate. Narcissists are the new villains. In a 2020 piece for Psychology Today, author Wendy L. Patrick explains how to spot a narcissist through their fashion choices. She warns that they are “masters of capturing attention through flashy clothes, signature style, and attractive appearance.” If those are symptoms of mental illness, who wants to be mentally healthy?

Joking aside, in today’s hectic struggle for the moral high ground, a penchant for extravagant fashion may be enough to trigger a fall from grace. Interestingly, the biggest controversy surrounding this year’s Met Gala in May was sparked on the wrong side of the velvet rope. Influencer HaleyyBaylee, who was not even invited to the glamorous event, posed outside in a lavish flowery dress with matching headpiece by designer Marc Bouwer. In a regrettable move, she decided to channel her inner Marie-Antoinette, which sparked a ferocious blocking campaign. Later that month, protestors stormed the graduate fashion show at Central Saint Martins in London. With all the horrors happening in today’s world, the angry mob seems to demand that fashion be the least of your worries. Is eccentricity a faux pas in challenging times?

How to master sameness

Eleven years ago, in April 2013, the now-defunct trend forecasting agency K-Hole published a report that shook the fashion industry. Titled Youth Mode: A Report on Freedom, the authors, a group of former art students in their early twenties, claimed that individuality was over.

In an impressive analysis, the report explained how the internet and globalization had botched any attempts of trying to be truly special. In a consumer environment where even the smallest markers of individuality were hyped up to microtrends at in increasingly frenzied pace, they argued, normalcy was now the new cutting edge. The report concluded:

“Having mastered difference, the truly cool attempt is to master sameness.”

Ironically, Youth Mode sparked exactly the kind of buzzwords it was critiquing. The term “normcore” was on everyone’s lips. Fashion magazines praised understatement over flashiness and prompted “Dress like your dad!” or “Dress like a tourist!” The movement sparked the ugly sneaker megatrend while failing to see that the authenticity it purported to exhibit was still tightly tied to class (the privilege of growing up white and suburban).

 

Fittingly, this year, the return of normcore was proclaimed by the lifestyle platform Highsnobiety and others, citing Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy look: a combo of white shirt and tie worn with a baseball cap, adorned with Tiffany diamond brooches. It is at least doubtful that Lamar’s father, a former employee of KFC, ever dressed in this manner. In a 2022 interview withThe Face, Sean Monahan, one of the original authors of Youth Mode, admitted that while the report was originally about escaping consumer culture, he now realized that it had actually just been about a more complex form of consumerism. Note: Fashion cannot be escaped; nothing is trendier than anti-fashion.

Images by Isla Berlin

Images by Isla Berlin

Glamor stands for the promise of advancement

Nevertheless, the current fashion landscape is lacking a bold vision, instead producing one uninspired revival after the other. In June, Alessandro Michele, former golden boy of Gucci, surprise-dropped his first collection for Valentino, having turned to the extensive archive of the house for inspiration. With its pretty powdered hues, layered pearl necklaces and fur trimmed coats, the result gave grannycore rather than fashion-forward. Fellow designer Marc Jacobs has been cultivating the glamorous-old-lady-style with his private wardrobe for a while now. Perhaps because they are the only population group that still gets away with maximalism and eccentricity with impunity.

Of course, newly appointed creative director Michele’s job is not so much to renew, but rather to gently renovate. To reconcile the aesthetic legacy of the house with the restless tides of zeitgeist. In an interview with Vogue, he described the essence of fellow Italian Valentino Garavani’s work as

“a very Roman sense of opulence and excess […] distilled through an obsession for beauty.”

Opulence, excess and beauty: three concepts that sound deliciously outdated. It remains to be seen whether Michele will succeed in bringing them into a contemporary form. During his run for Gucci, the designer eliminated the use of fur in 2017. Even the brand’s main profit driver, the famous fur trimmed loafers, fell victim to Michele’s vision of ethical luxury.

 

From its SS18 collection onward, Gucci replaced the lavish kangaroo fur that had given the shoe its trademark fuzziness and replaced it with humble shearling. It goes without saying that for the new Valentino collection, the silk of the blouses was ethically sourced and the cheetah coats cruelty free.

While his efforts are admirable, one must wonder whether luxury and sustainability are not inherently contradictory. When was extravagance ever a sensible choice?
If opulence, excess and beauty become something to apologize for, for which a trigger warning must be issued, fashion becomes powerless. Daring to be eccentric means embodying independence, especially for women, who are still continuously policed by expectations.
Fashion is a practice that requires daily, precise self-inquiry. Eccentricity doesn’t equal being self-absorbed, it means elevating the conversation from an individual level to a societal level. Let’s not forget that the idea of glamor stands for the promise of advancement in a society whose class boundaries are becoming more permeable instead of more rigid. A lot can be lost, and nothing gained by giving up.
Credits
All images courtesy of Isla Berlin

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