Our Take | Is Bling Coming Back?

Today we present our first “Our Take” commentary feature. Rather than one of us rambling on about a specific topic, we invite all our editors to give their opinion on a certain topic. We’d love to carry on the discussion with you guys, so feel free to use the comments and let us know what you think.

David: Over the last couple of years we have seen a clear move away from attention seeking clothing to more refined, somewhat classic and many times heritage inspired looks. That is no news. Many streetwear and sneaker heads appeared to be going into the fishing and hunting industries, at least in terms of look. As with all trends, they come to an end. We have seen all over print t-shirts and hoodies come and go. We have seen crazy re-interpretations of classic sneakers come and go. We have seen fitted caps come and go, with 5-panels and snapbacks being the more popular choice these days.

Something interesting that we have been noticing recently, is that especially in the high fashion markets, the bolder statements still seem to work or seem to work again. Nobody has any trouble seeing Christian Louboutin heavily using studs on his sneakers, or Givenchy giving every jacket and shoe a leopard all over print. Just as much people get enthusiastic about glow in the dark wing sneakers by adidas and Jeremy Scott. The items mentioned here above attract more love than anything else, but of course also more hate than anything else. Why is a cap with 112 gold studs by Dope cool? What we are asking ourselves is when does Bling work and when does it not? Is Bling on a comeback? Who knows, is it ok again to make bolder statements because the economy has for the most part bounced back? For some reason there seems to be this thin line of when bling works and when it does not, or is it a general trend again?

Pete: I would agree that it is definitely back – at least within our niche (or within the media anyways…) Personally, and I’m sure you’d agree, it gets very boring looking at and covering classic hunting and fishing gear, or the same sneaker over and over again. Simply put, these wild items are exciting. The same way people are more drawn to fireworks than the average night sky.. in small doses it’s attractive. However, if this is all we see, it becomes too much – think of how the all-over print and loud sneaker trends faded away in the past. This is simply the textbook product life cycle: introduction, growth, maturity, saturation and decline. Every product goes through these stages. Some quicker than others (i.e. fashion trends.) Lather, rinse …

Check out the rest of this article after the jump.

Nick: Cycles are inevitable. From clothing to furniture, the shift from garish to simple, and back again, is near enough tradition. A subtle blend is always exciting – a transitional period. We’re almost there again. Won’t be too long before the “trendsetters” are again dressed like Joseph, their technocolor dream coats blinding the masses into tossing their dollars unwisely at fast fashions. The fast, recently, has been deemed classic, but it’s always wise to remember that “classics change.”

Jason: The biggest problem with the timeless-classic-last-forever trend is that they genuinely lasted a long time. So you didn’t need to buy that many of them. No one needs 20 chambray shirts just because the button on the chest pocket is in a slightly different place. While I don’t condone a complete switch to ridiculous hot neons or whatever, I won’t mind if I never see a ‘timelessly cool’ picture of some movie star ever again.

Timbo: Trends are really all about the media and what they are focusing on at a given moment and way less about what people are actually wearing in the real world. Look at a company like Neff who never stopped putting out crazeball all over prints with neon cartoon characters – they are making bank while every other snowboard brand has been dipping into the “Heritage” trough and coming up short. The media can’t keep people interested by reporting on the same shit over and over so they, or we I should say, shift our attention to other aspects of style and in doing so create trends. Media boredom is what’s “bringing back” the bling.

Get in on the discussion and leave your comment here below, we’d love to hear it! Also, should you have other interesting topics you would want to discuss with out team, do a write up and send it to info(at)highsnobiety(dot)com.