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The catwalk might be absurd, but fashion is no frivolous matter The catwalk might be absurd, but fashion is no frivolous matter
(4 months later)
This is Graduate Fashion Week, giving us our pick of shrouds, wimples, gimp masks, cloven shoes, S&M lederhosen, three-legged trews, sheer burqas, male mouth merkins, broken china bodices and lumpen pocketing. Young designers will be joyously caught enumerating influences that encompass "macramé, Aung San Sui Kyi's confinement garb and Bert Reynolds' early oeuvre". Oh, how our pretension cup runneth over.This is Graduate Fashion Week, giving us our pick of shrouds, wimples, gimp masks, cloven shoes, S&M lederhosen, three-legged trews, sheer burqas, male mouth merkins, broken china bodices and lumpen pocketing. Young designers will be joyously caught enumerating influences that encompass "macramé, Aung San Sui Kyi's confinement garb and Bert Reynolds' early oeuvre". Oh, how our pretension cup runneth over.
But Ab Fab platitudes aside, fashion is no mere frippery. As an industry, it receives virtually no help from government, beyond the odd, SamCam-starring, No 10 shindig, yet is worth billions. Specifically, £21bn according to The Value of the UK Fashion Industry, a report commissioned by the British Fashion Council in 2010 that attempted to quantify the economic and social impact of this most elegant industry for the first time.But Ab Fab platitudes aside, fashion is no mere frippery. As an industry, it receives virtually no help from government, beyond the odd, SamCam-starring, No 10 shindig, yet is worth billions. Specifically, £21bn according to The Value of the UK Fashion Industry, a report commissioned by the British Fashion Council in 2010 that attempted to quantify the economic and social impact of this most elegant industry for the first time.
"Frivolous" fashion is the nation's second biggest employer, and the largest employer of all the creative industries, directly responsible for 816,000 jobs. Its business is similar in scale to food and drink, generating more than twice as many jobs as real estate, and considerably more than car manufacturing, telecommunications and publishing put together. Moreover, it boasts obvious knock-on effects for tourism and financial services."Frivolous" fashion is the nation's second biggest employer, and the largest employer of all the creative industries, directly responsible for 816,000 jobs. Its business is similar in scale to food and drink, generating more than twice as many jobs as real estate, and considerably more than car manufacturing, telecommunications and publishing put together. Moreover, it boasts obvious knock-on effects for tourism and financial services.
Non-aficionados who have endured some of the less impressive shows know them to boast all the tedium and self-importance of a school play. However, as a whole, London Fashion Week is justly recognised as the most innovative and creative of fashion's four major weeks, and the place where new careers tend to take flight (even if this is a euphemism for "people leave to make money"). According to the most recent figures, it is estimated to have a tourism impact of £98m, making £20m a year for the capital and drawing in orders of £100m. High fashion alone is worth £450m per annum.Non-aficionados who have endured some of the less impressive shows know them to boast all the tedium and self-importance of a school play. However, as a whole, London Fashion Week is justly recognised as the most innovative and creative of fashion's four major weeks, and the place where new careers tend to take flight (even if this is a euphemism for "people leave to make money"). According to the most recent figures, it is estimated to have a tourism impact of £98m, making £20m a year for the capital and drawing in orders of £100m. High fashion alone is worth £450m per annum.
There are not many areas in which Britain can claim to lead the world, but fashion is one of them. Students compete from all over the globe to become alumni of Central Saint Martins, the Royal College of Art and London College of Fashion. As countries become more moneyed, so they strive to be more exquisitely clad, meaning that Britain has the eye of Russia, China, India and Brazil for sartorial and investment purposes.There are not many areas in which Britain can claim to lead the world, but fashion is one of them. Students compete from all over the globe to become alumni of Central Saint Martins, the Royal College of Art and London College of Fashion. As countries become more moneyed, so they strive to be more exquisitely clad, meaning that Britain has the eye of Russia, China, India and Brazil for sartorial and investment purposes.
This week's Graduate Fashion Week alone will bring together more than 1,000 BA graduates from 40 UK establishments, in addition to collections from 16 universities around the world, including New York's Parsons and Fashion Institute of Technology, plus colleges from Turkey, Pakistan, Israel, Taiwan and the major European countries. And, in an age where the number of unemployed 16- to 24-year-olds sits at a million, many will be flocking to its job zone, where business skills can be honed to match creativity.This week's Graduate Fashion Week alone will bring together more than 1,000 BA graduates from 40 UK establishments, in addition to collections from 16 universities around the world, including New York's Parsons and Fashion Institute of Technology, plus colleges from Turkey, Pakistan, Israel, Taiwan and the major European countries. And, in an age where the number of unemployed 16- to 24-year-olds sits at a million, many will be flocking to its job zone, where business skills can be honed to match creativity.
Sartorially speaking, the French may be stereotyped as chic conservatives, Italians witty sensualists and the Yanks sporting. We, meanwhile, have style, street up and catwalk down. From Beau Brummell giving the world the suit, to today's poster dandy Prince Charles with his double-breasted backing of the wool trade, Britain's men and women have cut a dash. Whether prim or punk, pretty in pink or stalwart in green, white and violet, Mary Barton's millworkers or Mary Portas's pants, it is we who have given substance to style.Sartorially speaking, the French may be stereotyped as chic conservatives, Italians witty sensualists and the Yanks sporting. We, meanwhile, have style, street up and catwalk down. From Beau Brummell giving the world the suit, to today's poster dandy Prince Charles with his double-breasted backing of the wool trade, Britain's men and women have cut a dash. Whether prim or punk, pretty in pink or stalwart in green, white and violet, Mary Barton's millworkers or Mary Portas's pants, it is we who have given substance to style.
Particular to the British character would appear to be a collective determination that freedom of expression rules, boundaries being there to be broken. We combine consummate craftsmanship (textiles and tailoring) with a sense both of the sublime and the ridiculous, frequently achieved simultaneously. As totalitarian regimes teach us, freedom to dress is no small indication of wider liberties. Britain's status as the mother of democracy allows it to be the great mothf*cker of fashion.Particular to the British character would appear to be a collective determination that freedom of expression rules, boundaries being there to be broken. We combine consummate craftsmanship (textiles and tailoring) with a sense both of the sublime and the ridiculous, frequently achieved simultaneously. As totalitarian regimes teach us, freedom to dress is no small indication of wider liberties. Britain's status as the mother of democracy allows it to be the great mothf*cker of fashion.
Our clothing conveys messages beyond mere adornment: is political as it is decorative. Witness the elaborate sumptuary laws dictating Tudor court costume currently on display at Buckingham Palace. Charles II's decision to avoid ostentatious dress following the interregnum was intensified by the material losses and anti-French feeling in the wake of the Great Fire of London; restraint that forced Pepys and Co into the waistcoat.Our clothing conveys messages beyond mere adornment: is political as it is decorative. Witness the elaborate sumptuary laws dictating Tudor court costume currently on display at Buckingham Palace. Charles II's decision to avoid ostentatious dress following the interregnum was intensified by the material losses and anti-French feeling in the wake of the Great Fire of London; restraint that forced Pepys and Co into the waistcoat.
Fashion is not, then, something either to castigate female politicians for or be eschewed by the male. It is not only size 0 debates, or Dove campaign anxieties. For, amid this week's spats and spangles, hessian and herringbone, something brilliantly British will be taking shape.Fashion is not, then, something either to castigate female politicians for or be eschewed by the male. It is not only size 0 debates, or Dove campaign anxieties. For, amid this week's spats and spangles, hessian and herringbone, something brilliantly British will be taking shape.
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