Exploring influences, inspiration, and intersection
Fashion is not only what we wear. Fashion involves the environment around us. Fashion is the music we listen to as well. In fact, there is a clear parallel between fashion and music. Both have developed precisely the same pattern.
What kind of music do we listen to today? What is popular?
DJs are sampling tracks from the 70s, 80s or 90s, remixing them, and then the singer of the moment adds the voice. So, here it is, the modern creative effort. Usually, this music is popular for a few months. Perhaps a year from now, no one will remember a single track.
Of course, there are always exceptions. Take, for instance, “Walk this way” by Run DMC. Well, as we said, exceptions do exist.
What kind of fashion do we see now?
DJs are the new fashion designers. They take designs from the past and add logos all over, following the above remix pattern.
In this world, design skills are no longer a necessity.
Some time ago, a TV show celebrated Fabrizio De André, the great poet-musician, and they interviewed his wife, Dori Ghezzi.
During the interview, singers who recently won the Sanremo Festival appeared in a clip, dressed up to promote fashion brands more than their music, but acclaimed as geniuses. Afterwards, they asked her: “What do you think?” So, she replied: “In my husband’s time, there was a lot of space, we have experimented a lot, and we did a lot. Now, perhaps, these guys don’t have much left. They are scrambling.”
Ads disguised as entertainment–that’s how marketing gurus refer to it, indeed.
The sampling of things already seen, stealing others’ ideas and presenting them for absolute novelties–this is the sign of our times. And in both fields, fashion and music, it’s marketing, not art.
But in the end, we do not have to accept it or conform. We have the freedom to differ, to think differently.