The Winter of our Discontent
and hope springs eternal through the lens of fashion
I have found it increasingly both easy to write through my anger, but debilitating to write through my fear. How do I write about the couture shows in Paris, when there is so much danger lurking in the hidden headlines of the news cycle. I’ve always loved the turn of phrase that the title of this piece comes from. Shakespeare originally, from Richard III (aka a story about power hungry kings seizing power that wasn’t meant to be theirs), then a John Steinbeck Novel (set in Sag Harbor, the Hamptons with themes of power and wealth - and those who no longer have it - the main character even reports and illegal Italian immigrant to ICE’s predecessor), then used by disgruntled employees to describe Anna Wintour’s early tenure at American Vogue in the late 1980s (I still think she’s a Queen for that, tbh) as a play on her last name, which brings us to now, because January of 2025 was ten years long, and i’m pretty sure Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow yesterday, which means six more weeks of winter in perhaps the cruelest pun on Groundhog Day (The Movie), as we love through the onslaught of Trump, again.
I saw a quote about the peak of the AIDS crisis – that they buried their loved ones in the morning, protested in the afternoon, and danced all night. And it was the dancing that kept them in the fight. It’s true. We have to find joy, it’s part of the resistance. Sometimes that means business as usual. Sometimes it means getting dressed up to go to a party, a concert, and sometimes it’s talking about fashion and books. So that’s what we are talking about.
I want to drop a little thread here, for an idea (not mine, I saw it on the internet first, but I am also chronically online to my own detriment of my collapsing mental health) that actually this rise in conservatism should have been more obvious. The rise of the American countryside - through shows like Yellowstone amongst others, that *special* Vogue cover of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, Bella Hadid leaving the industry to go join the rodeo circuit, Lana del Rey marrying her Cajun alligator tour operator man. Recent fashion trends like cowgirl hats and boots, even the Chappell roan camo hats that became a Harris-Walz campaign hat. Not to mention the revival of Ralph Lauren chic, “Old Money Aesthetic”, which was peak 1980s – all pointing to a return from the strides forward of progress of the last fifteen years or so.
But, in the fashion and beauty worlds there are indexes that we can measure this by. The Lipstick Index – is a major indicator of economic recession (the theory being, that something so readily available and the ability to be mass produced, will be one of the last luxury items that people will stop purchasing in the event of economic downturn). The Hemline index - by contrast is essentially that, hemlines are short the economy is great (see brat summer), hemlines are longer the economy is struggling. This one makes a lot less sense to me, since it would be more fabric being produced and therefore more expensive, but I’m just a smart Gemini, not an economist, so we’ll continue on. Bright Colors after all, are anti-fascist. Short hemlines are feminist and signs of a thriving economy. Red lipstick was part of US women’s military uniforms in WWII because Hitler supposedly hated red lipstick – citing it as degenerate so brb running to Sephora to order 3 tubes of red lipstick from Pat McGrath.
So the two major fashion moments of the last week are the Paris Couture Shows & the Grammy Awards in LA (the latter of which relied heavily on making it a post-natural disaster recovery concert, which was nice, but some of these things felt performative about trying to get viewers to donate aid). Last week, looking at the couture shows – and a bit sad that I had opted out this season after attending the last two in January and June of last year – I did feel a sense of unease. A devastating plane crash in Washington D.C. used as political cannon fodder juxtaposed with the fantastical artistic talent and dreams gave me a bit of whiplash out of the cognitive dissonance. But, the sentiment I quoted above, still holds. And Fashion belongs to the dreamers. So, let the fashion commentary commence.
PARIS COUTURE WEEK
I am an unapologetic Daniel Roseberry at Schiaparelli fan. Sorry, I am. But he’s a fashion girls favorite designer, because he does the out there. He’s not making commercially appealing pieces - he’s only praying to the gods of design and creativity. To that end - a creative director - to drive the vision of the show and to a macro extent the brand is key. Valentino saw the first show of Alessandro Michele’s tenure which was unapologetically theatrical - and definitely provided some of the creative escapism that fashion can sometimes present, which was also really apparent while my news cycle contained images of couture in one post, the next about plane crashes in the potomac. Regardless of that cognitive dissonance, it is, to me, it’s what is so interesting about fashion. That it can be both an art form and something of function. Chanel on the other hand, is still waiting for the vision of new creative director Matthieu Blazy who will officially unveil his vision in the fall, which left this current one feeling flat and commercial - and made for the people who are actually purchasing them. There are echoes of being aware of the current geo-political mood though, which I saw in Dior which I surprisingly liked. The show quotes bits of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, which maybe lends a sense of hallucination or unreality, which would be nice against the doomscrolling of my newsfeed. To that end, I’m going to be watching fashion very closely in the next few years to see what of the current climate is reflecting back at us. Fashion is a mirror too.
THE GRAMMY’S
I know there has been a lot of flak recently about the diversity if the Grammys - but I did feel like the red carpet and the eventually winners actually reflected a really diverse group? Please correct me if I’m not correct but just shouting out a few things I loved fashion-wise.
Personally the musts were 1) Taylor Swift in a sexy, glittery Vivienne Westwood. (Your Girl is obsessed with the thigh chain, tbh!) 2) Beyonce in a texas homage from Daniel Roseberry at Schiaparelli 3) Doechii’s 2nd Thom Browne look when she accepted Best Rap Album. I loved how the sort of preppy english schoolboy look has been fully embraced by the hip hop community - and something about her bottoms in this were simultaneously giving hip hop UFO pants (IYKYK) and women’s bustles from the 1890s. I surprisingly loved it. And 4) Sabrina Carpenter’s JW Anderson look which was an homage to a look worn by Shirley Maclaine in the 1964 film What a Way to go! With that gorgeous low back and dripping pearls and diamonds.
The trend of archival and vintage was still in full force with honorable mention for Chappell Roan’s vintage Jean Paul Gaultier couture and Olivia Rodrigo’s vintage Versace was stunning in its sexy simplicity. And Cardi B’s vintage Roberto Cavalli look was fantastic too.
But also really did love Charli XCX’s fresh off the runway Jean Paul Gaultier Couture by Ludovic Saint Sernin - which honestly that dressed must have been put into a garment bag and flown to LA between the show walking on Wednesday last week and Grammy’s last night. This trend for archival and vintage is not new - but takes on interesting meaning as the current trade wars over tariff’s will lead to rising import prices on an industry that has a lot of imports - Fabric and Leather from Italy, Fabrics from India, etc. Will these lead to the end of conspicuous consumption?
Next fashion dispatch will probably be New York Fashion Week related but until then!
XOXO,
Casey