Why Did All These Designers Dress Alike?
You expect fashion designers to dress low-key. But identical? Not so much.
After this past month's runway shows, over a dozen designers stepped out for a bow wearing a consistent look: loose-fitting top kinda tucked-in with the sleeves rolled (and often black), a dark leather belt, and faded straight-leg-ish jeans. This is the uniform of the creative, yes, but it's never been quite so consistent at fashion week. The only deviations were the tucks, the sleeves, and the eternal divide between blue and black denim.
Everyone from Balenciaga's Pierpaolo Piccioli to Loewe's Jack McCollough to Enfants Riche Deprimes' Henri Alexander to Dries Van Noten's Julian Klausner dressed basically the same. Different, but the same. Slightly looser tops, slightly baggier jeans differentiated by details, silhouette, and accessories.
You expect this level of normalcy from wardrobe masters like Jonathan Anderson and Jil Sander's Simone Bellotti, less so from Lacoste creative director Pelagia Kolotouros or Mugler's Miguel Castro Freitas. And yet, they all fall in line: big top, relaxed jean. But different.
Obviously, the look is not one for one across the board. Everyone's got their own thang going on. And that's the beauty of personal style. But though I've seen a million designers take their bows in normal clothes, I was struck by the similarities this time 'round.
As a whole it's a joy to behold, a subtly steezy rejection of the look you'd expect of everyone in fashion: all-black everything, shapeless, unmemorable. Even the darker looks are good, especially those of Issey overseer Satoshi Kondo and Burberry's Daniel Lee, who are giving cozy downtown cool-guy and post-streetwear baggy, respectively.
The post-bow look is an instant distillation of taste. Normally it's of reserved, ordinary taste. But here, it's daily dress done one better, a download of each individual's individual preference for no-brainer show-day style. The fact that it all looked basically the same is stylish coincidence. But what a stylish coincidence it is.
