fashion

Masculine & Feminine

Style plays around the concepts of masculine & feminine. But sometimes the limit between one and the other is not so defined, meaning they tend to mix, which leaves more space to creativity.

Fashion & gender

When selecting items for our boutique, we’ve always kept an eye on men’s clothing. We love picking up some men’s items to mix in. We adore the duality of the masculine-feminine style. Also, limiting clothes by gender is a little too restrictive for us.

If you were young during the ’80 / ’90, and your favourite designer was Jean Paul Gaultier – a real creative genius – later on along your path, you would realise you have seen everything possible in fashion and life too. Forget the fast-fashion era, that was a wonderful time! Creativity was at its peak, that unforgettable energy created iconic moments in fashion history.
All the concepts now popular in fashion were launched by Gaultier about 40 or 50 years ago. He was living ahead of his time, had a unique attitude, definitely a genius!

We can say he was changing culture by making fashion.

Masculine, feminine and gender-fluid fashion

Gaultier has been the first to bring in diversity and inclusion, laying the groundwork for a gender-fluid fashion. On his catwalks, we saw everything, men wearing skirts, women in oversized suits, different body shapes. Love yourself as you are and play with clothes, sounded so beautiful to us.
Gaultier’s fashion has fed our vision to a point that now, everything seems already seen. Perhaps he brought us to another planet made of love, acceptance and play.
Maybe fashion evolved faster than society’s capability to adapt to the changes.

“Too much comfort is not good for creation.” One of his brilliant quotes invites us to reflect on the specific moment we are living.
Discomfort plays a role in creativity. We must remember it.

Masculine & Feminine Read More »

Evolution vs revolution

The Italian economist Guido Maria Brera released an interview to a daily newspaper which provided another piece, a fundamental block, that perfectly completes the picture of a broken system.

“With globalization, the weaker classes gave in to the masochistic exchange of their rights for cheap goods. Fashion, household appliances, mobile phones became affordable and gave the illusion of well-being. In the meantime, homes, education and healthcare are becoming less accessible. The result is dramatic: rights, hardly won, bartered for goods.” – Brera said.

Cheap goods have distorted the economy. Issues aren’t confined to one industry only, indeed the whole system is corrupted.

Reflecting on Brera’s words, the need for a change stands out. We thought it was just a matter of evolving, that natural process which is part of human beings’ growth. In other words, we simply needed to move to the next level of making improvements.

But a system that is collapsing, completely broken, perhaps doesn’t need to be revised. If we just put a patch on it, we will not find a good solution. Because of common sense, we are feeding dinosaurs that have lost their purpose. It’s impossible to find new ways if we follow old patterns. Once we understand this, the next step to take gets more clear. Now we must challenge what we take for granted.

We do not need evolution. We need a revolution.
Reset and reinvent everything from scratch: education – economy – work – fashion – lifestyle.
Everything!

Evolution vs revolution Read More »

The wake-up call

Lifestyle is constantly evolving.
It’s not about hectic fashion anymore, that time is over.
We learned the lesson, so we are evolving towards a new era based on consciousness. The pandemic is our wake-up call. Pollution, climate change, social issues, racism, our behaviour of the past led us here. Now, we must think about what kind of world we want.

Fashion as a reflection of who we are must be involved in the lifestyle evolution process. It’s about understanding the core values, so, as a consequence, we search for a design that fits our new vision.
Creativity takes time to express itself, manufacturing quality items takes time. Trust takes time too.
No need to hurry, not anymore. Slow is ok. Indeed, the process of consciousness takes time.

So, after the wake-up call, change for the better is what we are doing.
But don’t underestimate small changes. Even modest changes in our lifestyle can have a significant impact.

2021 is our blank page. Reset and restart with us.

The wake-up call Read More »

Who has a voice

Who has a voice in the fashion industry? And who do you think has a say on sustainable matters in fashion?
One of the many problems with sustainable fashion is that those who have a voice in discussing the topic are exactly the same ones who created the toxic environment. Same faces, same brands, and same interests. That is the trick, unfortunately.

They set up a system based on massive overproduction to be disposed of through crazy budgets to retailers. Outlets packed with discounted items. And a parallel market to reach those retailers who wanted to buy certain brands but officially could not.
Therefore, all the Maisons understood they could increase the budget to retailers, knowing that retailers, in turn, were then reselling through a parallel net, feeding that hideous system.
All the operators knew how it worked, but since they were making a lot of money, it was good. No complain! Like it was acceptable to do the worst things in the name of god-money. Now that the industry collapsed, they’ve started questioning it.

Mono brand retail, department stores, parallel market, off-price stores. How many goods those enlightened CEOs and managers did believe people could buy?
Is the fact that they are not making money as they did enough to let us believe in their redemption?
We could invite Hannibal Lecter to the table, but perhaps, serving only vegetables will not be enough to change his tastes in food.

Who has a voice and influence on the sustainability discussion are exactly those who created the problem.
If we believe we can search for the value of sustainability among the same old faces, listening to their voice, we are wrong.

Who has a voice Read More »

The dark side of modern society

Scanning the dark side of fashion, we came across a document released by ASPI – Australian Strategic Policy Institute – “Uyghurs for sale”. This detailed paper leads to a sad reflection on modern society and its economic system, capitalism. A system that can thrive only by exploiting people and the planet.

The Uyghur minority

Uyghur is an Islamic minority from the far west region of Xinjiang. The Chinese government has facilitated Uyghur and other ethnic minority citizens’ mass transfers from Xinjiang to factories that operate in the supply chains of about 83 well-known brands.
In China, 80,000 human beings live in segregated dormitories subject to constant surveillance. Put through ideological training outside working hours.

Fast-fashion brands are made in China, Bangladesh, India, Vietnam. Well, not only fast fashion brands! Therefore, we naively thought it was mainly a fashion-related issue. But learning about that horrific condition, we had to change our mind, as often happens.
Going through the pages, ASPI named various global brands, not only from the fashion field but technology and automobile too, and, of course, we know them all pretty well.

Fashion or modern society?

The dark side of fashion, that was supposed to be the point. At least we initially believed it was a matter that identified one industry only. But, in the end, we acknowledged that there is a common thread that links all manufacturing, the whole economic system. Capitalism, indeed.

Although we believe it is crucial to uncover fashion issues to move towards a better society, it is clear that exploitation, environmental impact, disposable goods, and lack of inclusivity, are issues that regard our modern society in full.
Perhaps, it is not about fashion but human behaviour, the greed that characterizes and dominates our economic system.

The truth is that society needs new slaves to flourish.
This must stop.

The dark side of modern society Read More »