The Freshest Clothes Are Also the Grimiest
Everything is washed. When kids (those kids!) say "washed," they mean washed up. But, to be clear, we're talking "washed" in the sense of faded, lived-in, distressed, worn-out. And excellent.
Clothing has never looked less fresh. At every price range and in every style, brand-new garments are heavily treated to look like they've been through the wringer — except that wringers were once used to clean clothes. These look like they've been through the dirt wringer.
It ain't hyperbole, either. This look is truly ubiquitous.
You'll find faded wearables from brands as disparate as skate labels like Dime and Polar; streetwear titans like Supreme, Carhartt WIP, and Palace; upstart youth culture lines like Fugazi, Corteiz, and Madhappy; luxe-casual makers like Sunnei, Mfpen, Camperlab, and PDF Channel; and straight-up luxury imprints like Miu Miu, Willy Chavarria, Acne Studios, JW Anderson, and Maison Margiela.
And that's just to start.
The results are always soft, sun-faded, desaturated, and possibly paint-splattered. At the very least, these clothes look like they've lived a life before you slip them on. At most, they have the appearance of being discarded outside for several seasons.
But all of the garments we're talking about are fresh from the manufacturer.
This sort of heavily distressed design doesn't really have an obvious starting point, having been a thing in and around fashion's periphery since at least the days of grunge (though this is not a singularly "grunge" look). Still, you must credit Balenciaga for normalizing the whole washed-out look.
Former creative director Demna, now off to Gucci, has done more for this sort of pre-thrashed clothing than anyone before or since. Sure, Martin Margiela sold denim jeans with flaking paint and Raf Simons was apocryphally rumored to acid-wash his hoodies to achieve a vintage look but Demna elevated worn-out garments to luxury.
This new breed of faded garms doesn't necessarily follow Demna's lead, though
Though there's certainly an abundance of similarly grungy stuff on the market, it all exists on a washed spectrum.
Presumably inspired by booming demand for vintage Carhartt jackets, for instance, all manner of younger streetwear labels are selling workwear with a distinctly lived-in look.
But those faux-faded sweaters are of a different artistic degree to the authentically sunbaked layering pieces of designer Jiyong Kim, whose garments actually are strategically positioned to soak up sunbeams for months at a time.
Meanwhile, nearly a third of every Stüssy collection is comprised of clothes that've been pigment-dyed or otherwise treated in some similar And Japanese labels like A.PRESSE and ANCELLM elegantly paint 'n bleach clothes to handcraft the appearance of careless wear.
Yes, even Nike is selling "pre-dirtied" sneakers.
If this isn't the golden age of all-new clothes that look age-old, when would it be?
The beauty lies in the beastliness. All of this stuff is quite cool.
These treatments lend depth to otherwise plain garments, enhancing the visual intrigue of even an unassuming T-shirt or hoodie. Is it authentic? Not necessarily. But who cares?
In fact, these clothes are often so exaggeratedly blanched that the end result is probably only partially attainable through actual wear. And then there are the makers like AURALEE and Taiga Takahashi who create the pre-lived appearance through exquisite application too beautiful to read as pastiche.
This is clothing that's as much about the look as it is the process, the purposeful treatments that contradict the accidents and incidents that ordinarily create grimy garments. The pre-faded look is also a reminder to actually wear your clothes and worry less about blemishes. They aren't something to fear but a representation of a life well-lived and clothes well-worn.
And when the results are this dramatically cool, authenticity is overrated.
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