Has fashion lost it? The city seems to be dressing for the climate it wants, not the climate it has. Flesh-flashing, despite the chilly winds, is hot right now. Non-existent garments flooded catwalks at London Fashion Week. Baby it’s cold outside. Didn’t anyone get the memo? Supriya Lele recommends see-through, sheer halter necks. Poster Girl says super thin knitwear covered in holes from leg to cleavage. And Edward Crutchley opened his show with a men’s thong jumpsuit pulled below the pecs, with a cut out to show your pubic hair. Arctic conditions? Entirely unchic to mention.
Gen Z seemed especially disconnected from the sartorial needs of sideways rain when out and about this week. Take Millie Bobby Brown, who sparkled in a not-quite-all-over sequin dress while heading to London’s Cirque Du Soleil for her birthday, with a statement slit and a keyhole cut-out on the bodice. Brrr. Or Cruz Beckham, David and Victoria’s youngest, who broke the internet this week days after his 17th birthday with a topless photoshoot for ID magazine’s cover. Everyone likes something new, but guys — when it’s minus two?
If you canvassed the sopping wet Frows of fashion week you’d be forgiven for thinking that designers had left the concerns of a worsening climate to more mundane thinkers. Will trying to pull off a piece of string as a sultry top be the harsh reality next December? What are we going to wear this time next year? Flesh-flashing bra tops and hip-height slit micro dresses!
Yes, we heard Sadiq Khan’s weather alert: “This red warning indicates a risk to life,” he said. “Stay at home, do not take risks and do not travel unless it is absolutely essential.” Thankfully, as all on planet fashion will confirm, watching Irina Shayk open the Matty Bovan show is more than absolutely essential. Covid could not stop the fash-pack squeezing into The Grand Palais for Chanel’s March show in 2020, so will this little breeze? Afraid not.
Maybe this is just how fashion sneers at anyone who tries to muscle in on setting the agenda. You hardly need to imagine the eye rolls and nasties passed around as someone else stole the limelight: the weather. “I’ve never even heard of a Eunice. She sounds revolting.”
