Community property
Local collectives are resisting fashion’s obsession with star designers.
The typical fashion narrative involves a star rising to fame. But behind every name there is a cadre of collaborators. Although social media has enabled even newcomers to gain global acclaim, more designers are thinking collectively and hyperlocally. Brooklyn-based Gogo Graham has tapped industry friends across disciplines for her shows, while Kerby Jean-Raymond of Pyer Moss launched Your Friends in New York with luxury conglomerate Kering to nurture creatives.
Antoine Gregory has enough jobs to fill several resumes: fashion editor, consultant, brand director of Theophilio and founder of the Black Fashion Fair. Launched in 2020, the latter project grew out of his desire to archive great black designers past and present. “We want to make sure we’re supporting brands now so we can make sure they’re around 20 to 30 years from now,” he says. The group has also released a magazine that highlights black fashion talent.
Across the pond, another collective seeking to give newcomers exposure, community and, above all, freedom is CONGREGATIONdesign, an anonymous London-based group that allows designers to showcase through lookbooks, information-based collections fast and events. The sole focus is creativity – not sales. Founder Marie (who declined to give her last name) says the Congregation thrives in flux. “It’s more about saying, ‘This doesn’t work. Maybe it will, to continue the commitment [in] new processes – trial and error – because we like to make mistakes.” The in-between area is uncomfortable for many, as fashion has regularly operated as an in-or-out system for so long, but designers are now rejecting this as they forge new avenues for a slow, laid-back approach. endless thoughts. As Marie says, “The most important thing and the answer is always the next project.”— Kevin LeBlanc
Attack of the Trend Forecasters
How TikTok Became Fashion’s Crystal Ball
If you’ve noticed stories predicting vague trends like “indie sleaze,” “nighttime luxury,” or something called the “2014 Tumblr girl aesthetic,” you have TikTok’s trend forecasters to thank. A number of young creators are making a name for themselves by producing content that envisions specific queer aesthetics like “Parisian ballet” and “coastal granny” as the next big thing. It seems the only thing hotter than trends is predicting them.
The phenomenon can be traced back to Mandy Lee (@oldloserinbrooklyn), whose October 2021 TikTok prediction of a return of “indie rock” sparked a media firestorm, accelerating the timeline of Lee’s prophecy. Ironically, by making their trend predictions public instead of private, these forecasters now appear to be driving trends rather than predicting them.
Historically, trend forecasting has been a dark business: analysts spend months evaluating runways, world news and even strangers on the subway to make predictions up to three years ahead. But due to the reverberations caused by the pandemic, we have entered a moment where everything familiar has been disrupted – well, call it a vibe change – and traditional methods no longer apply. “Foresight is no longer in the hands of futurists,” says Eve Lee, founder of creative/internet agency and youth culture specialist The Digital Fairy.
Can it really be called “prediction” if every foretold fad is adopted almost immediately? “Social media has created this notion of the super-relevant, spicy, ever-ephemeral now,” says Agus Panzoni, a trend spokesperson for an online clothing retailer who goes by @thealgorythm on TikTok. In an effort to stay informed, consumers embrace these reports as directives rather than waiting to see if predictions materialize. While instant access to future fads may seem to democratize fashion, the result is an exhaustion with the trend cycle itself. Many of the original trend forecasters are abandoning the forecasts they created because of concerns that their reports are being taken too literally, or a desire to distance themselves from the bogeymen who tarnish the genre. “The first viral video I ever made was about how microtrends will cause the trend cycle to break,” says Lee. “I stand by that.”—Isabel B. Sloane
A look from Ronald van der Kemp.
The All-Inclusive World of Demi-Couture
For a new class of designers, seasonal schedules and non-stop production have become passable.
For 164 years, haute couture has been the pinnacle of fashion, uniting world-class savoir faire with glamorous sartorial notions. At the other end of the spectrum are mass market collections produced at a pace that many designers cannot keep up with. An emerging vanguard of designers is splitting the difference between the ease of ready-to-wear and the strictures of haute couture, eschewing trend cycles in favor of sustainably and artistically made garments, released when they’re ready. This middle ground of slow fashion is called demi-couture.
Dutch couturier Ronald van der Kemp creates collections called Garderoba made from repurposed pieces of fabric from surplus stock, vintage collections and factory waste. For him, recycling comes naturally. “I will not talk about sustainability [constantly],” he says. “I just want to make clothes.” German-born, London-based designer Johannes Warnke creates avant-garde garments that reflect the use of space, sound and color in clothing. He dyes fabric by hand and achieves a luxurious, silky feel with Tencel Luxe, a botanical silk alternative made from renewable wood resources. (Tencel Luxe is a sponsor.) Still, he admits, “When you’re making something new, it won’t never be completely sustainable. Doing nothing new is more sustainable [thing].”
Designer Conner Ives only shows once a year, to give himself time to make sure his offerings are technically perfect. But he doesn’t want to be known as a consistent designer, echoing Van der Kemp’s sentiment: “I have to make really good clothes. I have to trick the consumer into thinking it’s the same as a dress that’s been cut from virgin raw material.” He has found his sweet spot using fashion techniques, avoiding old school timelines and business models. One of his creations was shown at the Met’s Costume Institute, so it seems people are taking notice, regularity be damned.— Kevin LeBlanc
This article appears in the August 2022 issue of ELLE.
Isabel Slone is a fashion journalist living and working in Toronto, Canada. She has written for the New York Times, T Magazine, Playboy, CNN, Globe and Mail, Toronto Life and more.
Kevin LeBlanc is a fashion contributor at ELLE magazine. It covers fashion news, trends and all things Robyn Rihanna Fenty.
