Trends and styles always seem to find their way back into space and time. The famous bell bottoms from the 70’s and jumpers from the 90’s seem to be a popular hit amongst us Americans. Although those are a couple of items I love to see return, I believe that fashion designers have a interesting effect on life to recreate and event art using their resources, and similar styles in different ways.
Fashion never sleeps. There is always some fresh new designer or seasoned veteran billionaire trumping over one another with one stern goal to “Make America Great Again.” If you ever watched the television series of designer competitions, they are more intense then television cooking competition series such as “Hell’s Kitchen.” In fact, at least the cooking competitions are done within a couple of hours. All the screaming, antagonizing, crying, and fit throwing takes up more energy than meal completion.
The designers, on the other hand, are given a day or two to complete a whole outfit that could take weeks to sew. This means, no sleep, and no room for crying. Your sweat blood and tears literally has to go in your brand. That would be disgusting if it were food. Plus, Gordon Ramsay would matter of flatly, slam it in the trash can.
So then why do we bring in old fashions? Is it the notion of given fashion designers a break for a season or two? I plainly think it’s due to whatever agenda they have to push. Designers sit back and discuss the colors that feel right for the season and are then handpicked for us to wear.
The right question might be, do we as a people influence the designers? Personally, I think the answer is no. I believe the designers influence us as a people.
Seasoned designers are usually simple and expensive. They already have a collective, or certain group of people that will purchase their items no matter what they’re selling. Also, some of them rarely change the look of their product. For example, Polo. Polo can never go out of business or style. The rich wear it. The poor will scrape up change to wear it.
Other new and upcoming designers express their artwork through their clothing. It’s always cool to see unique cuts and lengths of clothing others have never seen before. Now it’s no Mona Lisa, or Sistine Chapel, or Picasso, but I like to call it abstract. A lot of things are thrown together, hard to find, separating you from other designers’ equivalent as finding a needle in a haystack or recreation of a maze. It takes skill, definition, planning and our good old friend, time.
If you are really talented, enter yourself in talent shows, and your work is appreciated you could gain a following. Your following may be big enough for a large amount of change, but maybe not apply to a seat with the Versace or True Religion brands who make the cash. It may take time.
The most exciting time in fashion for me was the 90’s. Although the 80’s paved the way for shorter skirts, crinkly hair, and fashionable suspenders, the 90’s had more of a cool and creative style. It also used music artists to broaden not only their spectrum, but their pesos as well. I’ll never forget, baggy jeans in hip hop culture that left a lasting effect on clothes for almost twenty years. The popular teenage group “Kriss Kross” not only wore their pants saggy, but put them on backwards as well. There was scene at the end of the video “Jump, Jump “ where they are walking away, but it looks as if they are walking forward. In my eyes as a kid, that was soooooo cooool and no one else has copied it since.
Coogi sweaters was another trend that became very popular in hip hop culture during the 90’s. Biggie Smalls, a rapper, was famous for wearing and rapping about them in his videos. Every fan wanted one. Every girl in the video had on -what we called- “figure eight earrings.”
The female rapper, known as Queen Latifah, made being an African queen a popular statement not only by her name, but by her music and appearance. She wore African clothing in her videos and rapped about how black women were queens and deserved respect.
Ashy tone jeans were also a favorite of mine. Later in the 2000’s designed prints were made from the concept of the ash jeans. I remember back in high school using bleach to recreate my own. Around this time zodiac earrings became popular. I owned a pair in college and might own another pair soon. You can find anything on google these days.
Eve, the rapper, made a grand opening for the rap group RUFF RYDERS (also known as Double R) with her amazing trend setter of a beautiful diamond stud on one earlobe with a round shaped diamond hoop on the other. I copied this style at my Soph-hop dance. Let me not forget to mention the fact that everyone wanted to ride a dirt bike or motorcycle like the Double R. If they didn’t care to edit the person falling off his bike during the video while doing a stunt, why should we care about riding illegally through the streets on dirt bikes risking freedom or our lives? All of that was soooooo coooool.
Still, I miss the good ol’ days of popping cd’s in a car or VHR, going to the movies to watch the magnificent screens and wearing your face instead of a mask like a character in the movie scene. Can we all join hands again for a “WE SHALL OVERCOME,” or play doubled-dutch in the middle of the street with friends joined at the other end of each rope for fun.
Getting back to music, I have to mention it has changed drastically. Back in the day there were more singers perpetrating a rivalry than there were female rappers. Now, the rappers are “off the hook.” I guess there’s more talent in that department, because that's all I see and hear about, and the singers are lacking.
Anyways, those are some of my bring it back trendsetters. I was born in the 80’s but I’m a ninety’s baby. That was my era. Music was good, fashion was cool and trendy, and artists were really unique and talented.
To get a better feel of my kind of trends and fashion, I suggest you hit your You-tube channel up for the R&B artist group Soul II Soul’s song “Back to Life.”
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