In the intervening years, there have been major shifts in technology, politics, culture, and social norms, especially considering both the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing horrific war in Ukraine–fashion has reflected that in its ever-changing cycle of trends.
The longstanding opinion that fashion is complex and might even be painful seems not to stand any longer. With athleisure and home wear as outwear, those concepts are not on millennials’ agenda of ways of dressing. Yet, fashion is about standing out, and in the age of TikTok micro-trends and fast fashion, dressing up is the way to break through the noise. In fashion trying too hard does not exist. That is why the historical influences of the past are intelligibly visible in the present-day collections. The FW 2023 shows are due in February, and we will see menswear and couture before it. The intricate and deliberate attitude to dressing will definitely be carried into the runways. How it will be implemented into collections (crinolines for men or something else) remains to be seen.
Fashion always enjoys diving deep into the past — sometimes through the decades, sometimes back centuries. It seems that for spring 2023, many fashion designers referenced the graciousness of Velazquez’s Las Meninas with hoop skirts, cage crinolines, and pannier construction emphasizing the atmosphere of drama and romanticism characteristic of the times.
SS 2023: Recontextualizing aspects of historic dress in ways that are feminine and feminist:
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1. Dolce & Gabbana
2. Matty Bovan
3. Carolina Herrera
4. Louis Vuitton
5. Comme des Garçons
6. Christian Dior
7. Thom Browne
8. Melitta Baumeister
9. Del Core
10. Harris Reed
Panniers were devised in the 17th-century Spanish court and were celebrated in many portraits of Baroque painter Diego Velazquez. Then again, cage crinolines became fashionable in the mid-19th century and were originally made of horse hair as structured petticoats designed to create exaggerated skirt volumes.
Cage skirts from the Victorian era are still making not rare appearances on the runways and eventually on the red carpet. The 19th-century crinoline, also known as a hoop skirt or extension skirt, was enthused by the open cage frame of the 16th and 17th-century farthingale and the 18th-century pannier. The Victorian crinoline developed various styles over time as methods of manufacturing progress.
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Victorian Era Fashion 1860s
Victorian Era Fashion 1860s
DOUGLAS & SHERWOOD’S HOOP SKIRT- 1858
Fashion plate, from Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine, 1865
These techniques have been employed in the past by John Galliano, Vivienne Westwood, and Alexander McQueen. But this season, a range of designers instilled a more modern yet still conceptual approach to the historical references. We can see this spin in the collections of a number of brands such as Loewe, Dior, Matty Bovan, and Monse.
Spring 2023 collections sparked a dialogue between the past and the present.
In her preview before the show, Chiuri explained her thinking process behind her Renaissance queen. “I understood very well to what extent she also used clothes to express her power, and the relationship between fashion and power,” she said. “The idea was to mix the natural elements with the construction, and to create a Baroque ball inside the gardens of the Tuileries, but in a contemporary way.” Mission accomplished.
Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim from Monse used crinolines as transparent structures on both male and female models, while Jonathan Anderson presented small panniers in minidresses as a way of bringing historical influences into today’s conversation.
The crinoline has allowed John Galliano, another keen student of history, to experiment with extreme volume. More recently, Thom Browne’s deconstructions have revealed the architectural and cage-like aspects of this silhouette shaper. The graphic impact of the crinoline is undeniable and there is plenty of proof of it in recent designs.
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1. Chantal Thomass Fall 1991
2. Marine Serre 2021
3. Thome Browne menswear ss 2021
4. Comme des Garcons
5. Yohji Yamamot0
6. Alexander McQueen Spring 2013
And Virgil Abloh in his role as Louis Vuitton’s creative reinvented the concept of hoop skirts in his collections.
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1. Off-White FW 2022
2. Madeleine Vionnet
3. 1951 Charles James
4. Off-White FW 2022
5. Off-White FW 2020
6. Charles James
The new reinvents the old and fashion influences of the past and will continue to inspire future generations of designers for years to come.