Covering Face in Fashion

January 10, 2023

The concept of covering one's face when out in the world; is far from new or original. Modesty culture is old. The intention of hiding something from surrounding strangers is one that many fashionistas not following modesty culture have struggled to understand. Modesty culture is alive and well but intersects with global trends less and less, and most people would not associate the majority of the global fashion scene with strict rules about how long a skirt should be.

However, partially concealing one’s face for non-modesty purposes is a relatively common trend that has been cycling in and out of fashion for a long time. Visards, for example, were black velvet masks worn by upper-class women in the 16th century, held in place by clasping a bead in one’s mouth, which differed substantially from modest face coverings. They afforded the wearer anonymity rather than modesty; thus, some safety and freedom for the women who wore them, whose behaviors were meticulously scrutinized and potentially put them in danger were their identities known.

Another, more recent example (though we may not necessarily think of them as such) is the side-swept bangs of the 00s. Here the primary aim is certainly not anonymity nor modesty (except maybe for the lucky few of us with uncharacteristically seductive foreheads). It is hard to argue that the side bangs are not a purely aesthetic choice, and it is notable they cover around the same surface area of the face as surgical masks. We may not consider them accessories per se because they are hairstyles; nonetheless, they were used to conceal a part of the face for aesthetic purposes and thus apply for the purpose of my trend prediction here.

Then, of course, there is the elephant in the room - surgical masks. During the pandemic, face coverings were ‘trending’ out of necessity rather than a design choice, but many people from non-modesty backgrounds "spoke up" during this period of time about the liberation of keeping one's face hidden from strangers. Samantha Matt tweeted in June 2020: “Idk why people are against wearing masks. Masks protect you from coronavirus, yes, but they also protect you from running into people you know in public. Add sunglasses, and you are literally in disguise. It’s safe to do anything, anywhere, even in your hometown. This is my dream.” Psychologically, anonymity in such an intrusive world is always nice. Still, there are aesthetic/ fashionable reasonings behind this preference reflected by the barrage of branded, custom, patterned and colorful masks that followed the collective desire for safety.

The distinction here is important, as we did not pick masks because they were pretty. Since we were stuck with them, pretty and expensive masks were made. Nonetheless, the majority of the world experienced the regular and consistent use of this accessory for at least some time. The face coverings I am writing about are a far cry from these practical items but are their descendants. In 2023, most places no longer mandate masks, and most people no longer wear them. Why when given the freedom to choose how much of our face we want to show, would we choose less and not more?

There is rarely a clear preference in fashion for modesty (loose and thick fabric with lots of coverage) or transparency (sheer and tight fabrics with little coverage). Most people find some balance between the two to be the most appealing (think small top big pants). Hence there is no inherent reason to prefer either face out or face covered fundamentally, but the time is right for us as a culture to enjoy a bit of mystery around the face.

It is well-documented that fashion is cyclical. Earlier I mentioned a few of these early inspirations, the most recent being side-swept bangs. Having been out of style for just under 20 years, those bad boys are right on time for a reinterpretation. While some might say that a reinterpretation of one style of bangs is a different style of bangs, we sure have had a variety of styles since then. I would argue against that, as none of the more modern bang trends have had this determination to conceal the face. Rather bangs today are focused on framing and are frankly far too light and subtle to be considered in the same genre as the side swept. No, we as a culture are still looking for a reinterpretation to take the world by storm, and I believe with face coverings, the wheels are already in motion.

The timing is also perfect if we consider the very well-documented roaring 20s theory, which suggests that ‘the 20s, as a consequence of the isolation and tragedy of the pandemic coupled with the poor state of the economy,y would be a decade of extremely vibrant and over the top fashion trends. Indeed, the worse things get, the harder we go with the fits - this has been recorded post both World Wars and other disasters. A big part of being over the top is more accessories. The face provides more space for accessories. Hence- match made in heaven. This is further backed up by the increasing popularity of similar ‘concealing’ accessories - most prominently gloves and leg warmers, which, much like the face coverings primarily add complexity and texture to an outfit.

Throughout this article, I have been using the vague term ‘face covering’. Living post-pandemic, masks no doubt most readily come to mind, but that is not at all the interpretation I believe will be the ‘it-face-covering’ of the decade. Allow me to introduce below some designers and items spearheading the trend, that might perhaps convince you to hop on.

Austin James Smith

A jewelry artist, much of who’s work covers and alters the face, AJS’s vibrant and freaky jewelry gets to the heart of both the anonymity and opulence of face coverings explored in this article.

MAM

MAM offers more wearable luxury face coverings and is a great opposite of AJS in its sleek aesthetic. I especially love the glasses shown and hope to see this interpretation of the face covering gain traction this year.

Gucci X Adidas

Though not classically known for their jewelry, the recent 70s-inspired collab of the brands gave is plenty of oversized sunglasses and visors that hide the face. Even more wearable than MAMs jewelry, this is the point in the trend that I believe we are at right now, with more conventional accessories being exaggerated and refined in a modernization of the trend of the 70s.

Source: https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news...

When We Look to the Future

May 2, 2022

Seeing campus tours invites a kind of nostalgia—one I don’t know how to identify; how to work with. You know what I mean. You walk by the groups of prospective students, their parents, and something in your heart feels like it’s going to burst at the seams.

Their UChicago merchandise, their seemingly casual glances around—at the students, at the architecture—as if they can absorb everything, the entire experience, by observing. So close that they can smell it, taste it: this is what college life looks like. Gothic buildings, fast-paced walks to class, some giggling here, some leaking music there, heavy bags and bulky coats.

Don’t get me wrong, I have no resentment towards them. If anything, we understand it. We see them, we hear them, we feel them, we were them; in fact, we still are them. Anxiousness about the future courses through our veins too, a constant worry about where we’ll be in the next few months, next few years. Trepidation about living on your own, what you’ll do when there’s a bug in your room and your mom isn’t around to take it out; stress about what you’ll do if your laptop breaks down, and your dad can’t magically fix it for you. Most importantly, eagerness. When we look to the future, just like them, we do it with excitement: when and where will I be when I am living a better life? Who will I be? Do I already know her? Do I want to? Do I recognise her? Is she happy? Can she tell me how to get there?

Because I remember being there. Walking around college campuses, trying to gauge whether future me wanted to be there by looking at students’ faces: how tired do they look? How far do their shoulders droop? Do they wish they’d chosen differently? A lot of questions, no real answers. Shuffling between “dream” colleges, as if the name(‘24) I wanted in my Instagram bio could be summoned by sheer desire—not essays, or international student quotas, or plain old luck. Worried and excited, cycling through the two emotions and pretending as if they were on two opposite sides of a scale, when really, it was both, together, all of the time.

They’ll make it, somewhere. It may be here, it may not. It may be a “dream” come true, it may not. Whatever it is, they’ll have to work with it. As will we.

Because when we look to the future, they’re there. So are we. The only prevailing question is: how far from each other? And with how much regret?

Inspired by: “Where You Are” from Moana, by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Opetaia Foa’i, Mark Mancina

Header photo source.

Is Carbon-Capturing Clothing the Possible Future for Fashion?

May 3, 2021

Carbon-capturing technology, or Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS), has been around since the 1970s. Known for its industrial prowess in collecting carbon for underground storage and prolonged usage in oil extraction, it was only around a decade later that scientists found its climate mitigation potential. However, back in the 70s and 80s, climate change was not as widespread of a concern as the Cold War and nuclear warfare, and CCUSs were not cheap. Thus, a possible industrial marvel that could have evolved and kickstarted the mitigation of Carbon Dioxide emission and its effects on the climate and could have created a precedent for more environmentally friendly industrial practices never took off. Right now, there are only 21 large-scale CCUS projects for the reduction of factory emissions globally, a valiant yet powerless number that hasn’t been able to do much to stop the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere from reaching 416 parts per million, almost double of the pre-Industrial Revolution emissions.

Still, environmental science is an area of constant exposure to innovation in today’s world. Over the past ten years, technology has been able to make carbon capture processes cost up to 70% less than before with new solvents and chemical “sponges” to capture CO2 and catalysts to speed up the CCUS processes. Upcoming inventions like MIT’s electronic battery-like electrode filter may help the developing market even more. Yet, industrial applications for CCUSs are not the only approaches people have taken to apply such environmentally friendly procedures. Fashion is always the wild card when talking about humanity’s future, be it about wearable tech, the evolution of fads due to popular culture, and its impact on the environment. The latter point is important to consider since, in 2018, the fashion industry was responsible for 10% of global carbon emissions and nearly 20% of wastewater, especially when talking about jeans production. Moreover, fast fashion (a real wolf in sheep’s clothing) is super toxic, highly pollutant, and very wasteful. So, it is refreshing to see that fashion has been part of the carbon-capturing train in its own small-scale way.

Algae has been experimented with as a carbon-capturing fabric before. Examples include New York designer Charlotte McCurdy’s see-through jacket made of algae powder that is heated and later cooled into a transparent garment, and Canadian-Iranian designer Roya Aghighi’s proof of concept textile called Biogarmetry, made of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii algae that are spun together with nano polymers to form the fabric. The Post Carbon Lab is a biotech design start-up that has also worked for a long time transplanting photosynthesis into cloth, creating layers of living algae inside their experimental clothes (more on them below). So, the newest stride in carbon-capturing fashion may argue that the future is algae.

During the 2021 Paris Fashion Week, DS Automobile, a premium automotive brand owned by Peugeot and Citroën’s conglomerate PSA Groups, unveiled a new capsule collection in collaboration with Post Carbon Lab (told you) and EGONLab, a French designer brand. The selection consists of one unisex bomber jacket and one unisex trench coat with adornments coated in algae, and two unisex t-shirts completely layered with the photosynthetic organism. The attires also feature slogans expressing messages like “Lead The Charge,” “Power Sustainability Dreams,” and “Green Bomber.” EgonLab lead designers Florentin Glemarec and Kévin Nompeix mentioned in an interview that they took “inspiration from the city of Paris and the strong spirit of its residents” to imprint those phrases onto the garments, which they designed and weaved before the algae were coated onto them.

This partnership comes on the heels of DS Automobile announcing that they are currently selling E-Tense electric versions of their previous cars and intend to switch to exclusively manufacturing plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles by 2025. Yet, this is not the first time the marque has collaborated with EGONLab. The brand featured DS Automobile cars in their 2020 Spring/Summer clothing collection photoshoot. Still, working with Post Carbon Lab is a novel feat inspired by its new “Future Craft” method, which aims to use sustainable and innovative materials in crafting their vehicles.

The Post Carbon Lab was founded by Dian-Jen Lin, a London College of Fashion graduate from their fashion futures program, and Hannes Hulstaert, an Architecture graduate of the University of Antwerp. Their mission in creating the company was to promote something they call Regenerative Sustainability Activism, which they describe as “making sustainability as easy and accessible as daily conveniences like putting on clothes and commuting,” which includes designing garments with photosynthetic and pollution-filtering properties to reduce the environmental impact of the fashion industry. They haven’t released many prototypes of their work, so their collaboration with DS Automobiles and EGONLab is one of a kind and something that may (and at least should) signal the future of “living” photosynthetic clothing.

So, how does the collection work? In the founders’ words, the garments feature a “living algae coating, consisting of layers of photosynthetic micro-organisms that can turn carbon dioxide into oxygen [and glucose].” To keep the algae alive and carbon-capturing, though, the outfits need to be looked after as if they were almost like plants. Caring procedures include daily watering, ph neutral detergent washing when needed, direct heat prevention, and storage in well-lit, ventilated spaces. Lin and Husltaert explain that the garments’ lifespan can vary a lot, but their research points to them lasting for a couple of years if properly groomed.

Since this capsule collection is a very novel step the Post Carbon Lab is taking in materializing their research, it is partially a wearable technology pilot project made for them “to gather more qualitative and quantitative insights before making conclusions.” Therefore, the lab still lacks data about the science and logistics behind making “living” carbon-capturing fashion and translating the coating process and algae culture into a “mass-producible” or at least a consumer endeavor. Still, they have been able to record carbon-capturing measurements for their research during the ten-week dying and coating process, finding out that the garments were able to sequester together about 1452 grams of CO2, which is equivalent to a six-year-old oak absorbing and pooling carbon in a period of six months.

In the end, EGONLab’s founders sum up the sentiment behind the garment’s importance with these fitting words: “We love how each piece has turned out and how accessible they are for people looking to make a statement and reduce their carbon footprint.” Even though the capsule collection is only a designer concept, it shows that as time progresses, more and more companies may strive to reduce their carbon footprints through innovation and sustainability efforts in an attempt to build a less gloomy future, following the possible new, more environmentally conscious trends of society.

Cover Image Via

Source: https://www.driving.co.uk/news/lifestyle/d...

Brave New World’s Future is Undoubtedly Fashionable

March 17, 2021

In a previous article on the topic of costume design and science fiction (the Raised by Wolves one, in case you forgot or did not know), I mentioned NBCUniversal Peacock’s series Brave New World. There is a purpose behind it. I wanted readers to acknowledge its existence because eventually, it would be the show’s turn to receive an exploration of its fashion designs. Regardless of how well it did with critics and audiences, or how well it adapted and built upon its source material (Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World novel, a critique of the early 20th century’s utopian ideas about a possible future based on the values of the times), the show’s costume design, and style in general, is a visual experience that uses a mixture of 1930s motifs with contemporary fashion to picture a dangerously attractive version of our future.

Brave New World was developed by Brian Taylor, David Wiener, and Grant Morrison. While you may not know any of these names, Grant Morrison is an iconic DC Comics writer, and if you know me and my article oeuvre, you know I love DC. He is known for esoteric plots and crazy scripts, so adapting a novel that is aesthetically rich and full of possibility storywise, most significantly due to the shifting values that mark each century, is something he excels on. For those rare few reading right now that know Final Crisis, Multiversity, and his run of Doom Patrol, you have an idea of what this writer is capable of imagining; otherwise, I believe anyone reading words like Final Crisis, Multiversity, and Doom Patrol without having the slightest idea of what they mean in the context of comics may comprehend the level of “out thereness” and existential dilemmas they convey. That is all to say that, even if the story in the novel is not very similar to the series’ (and I must tell you, the latter deviates so glaringly from the book in its characterization and message), the show’sstyle, especially the myriad of different garment designs, is for sure one of its most fascinating aspects.

In broad strokes (a challenge in itself), the TV show follows two characters, Bernard (played by Harry Lloyd) and Lenina Crowne (played by Jessica Brown Findlay), in a utopic New London where, amongst the various changes to today’s society, human embryos are genetically developed in artificial wombs and separated into social castes before birth (Epsilons in the bottom and Alpha Pluses in the top). During their childhood development, they are conditioned to deny solipsism and monogamy and give in to sharing their pleasures with the rest of society while performing their caste vocations correctly and without question, always perceiving their mental health as a benefit for the collective, and never challenging the social bodies above them and accepting the provocations from those below them. However, upon venturing into the Savage Lands and encountering John, the Savage (played by Alden Ehrenreich), Bernard and Lenina’s view of this “utopian” society changes into eventual defiance of its machinations. The social castes’ fashion also reflects the citizen’s positions in society, but interestingly, while in the book, only one color is assigned to each class (Black for Epsilons, Kaki for Deltas, Green for Gammas, Pink/Purple for Betas, and Grey for Alphas), in the show, it is instead the style of clothing that primarily defines the classes.

Therefore, to speak of Brave New World’s fashion in detail is a very daunting experience as the amount of variance inside the social classes (besides Epsilons grey janitor uniforms) is vast, especially without the use of colors to help to define them, which makes appropriately distinguishing Alphas from Betas and Gammas from Deltas challenging when, for example, they are walking on the streets. However, it is possible to classify the series’ costume designs in three different ways: day looks, night looks, and the clothing of the Savages.

But first, I would like to acknowledge costume designer Susie Coulthard, who previously worked on Black Mirror’s episodes Metalhead and the award winner San Juniper (my favorite episode, and I think of many people), and brands Jako Schelpfer and Cotweiller for their work on the show. Although there is not much on the internet about the creative process behind the designs Couthhard worked on and how she came up with the futuristic look (I would love to know how she worked with the production team to design Brave New World’s version of the future), she has briefly commented on her inspirations before. In an email to SYFY Wire, she mentions, “Let’s not forget the novel was written 90 years ago. I wanted to give a nod to this by looking at the fashion of the '30s when the novel was written.” I will go a little bit more into the day looks later, but the 1930’s high society male and female fashion clearly inspired the show’s garments. Moreover, it is known that Coulthard partnered with Swiss textile company Jakob Schlaepfer to weave the glossy, oily, and glassine looks that populate New London in contrast with the more wool-based comfortable 1930s inspired ones. And she also worked with Cottweiler at one point, a high concept, high-fashion streetwear company, since they mention they helped design Brave New World’s costumes in their Instagram (specifically which ones remain to be known as the series has a lot of different garments), something very on-brand for Cottweiler as they are known for innovative fashion.

Now, I think it is time to address the visual side of this article. From my classifications, I will be separating the day looks into work clothing and leisure clothing. Looking into the Alphas first, because they work in positions of power and control, their garments usually are very formal and cover most of their bodies because they work in positions of authority. For male characters like Bernard, who is in charge of ensuring that people are emotionally healthy and available for the social body’s good, tailored wool blazers, dress pants, and open trench coats were designed to be worn with a turtleneck sweater and sometimes an added scarf to create this image of power from volume. Also, as sex is something normal, rather encouraged in Brave New World’s society, covering the flesh instills the idea that such a person is harder to get, more unattainable, creating this dynamic of power and respect. Yet, it does not prevent the look from being attractive as Henry Foster (played by Sen Mitsuji) wears form-fitted suit jackets with low turtleneck shirts that accentuate his athletic physique. Separately, the 1930s were famous for the sharp form-fitted business suits, and both turtlenecks and trench coats were around at the time and part of the male wardrobe. But together, the garments are a fashion statement suitable for the future.

As a side note, the show does not depict many Alphas of the opposite gender, but the female Alphas key to the story (Wilhelmina Watson portrayed by Hannah John-Kamen and World Controller Mustafa Mond) wear loose poncho shirt-dresses and robes as professional attire. The 1930s reference is lost on me, but they fulfill the “cover less skin” and “power through volume” constant of this caste.

Compared to the Alphas, the Betas wear lighter, more transparent, and glossier garments and appear with leisure clothing, something that sets them apart. Here is where Jakob Schlaepfer’s textiles start to shine in the series. Because Betas are, in a summarized way, the scientists or lab technicians of the society, fertilizing and classifying the caste of different newly formed embryonic zygotes, women wear white lab coats that cover different types of dresses and skirts while men wear white lab coats over loose scoop neck t-shirts and trousers. However, they only wear their coats inside their labs, which look almost transparent and very glassine as if instead of protecting, they serve as a reminder of a past custom. Thus outside them, anything is possible.

Lenina is an excellent example of how her sense of style transcends the limitations of work clothing. Betas can wear different types of dresses or t-shirts for work, but Lenina not only has a closet full of dress types like rompers, sleeveless bodycon, and wrap, but she is seen with evening capes and tied-up trench coats replacing her lab coats as a leisure look. The audience even gets to see Lenina Crowne and her friend Frannie Crowne (played by Kylie Bunbury) wearing white sports attire full of webbed and accordion mashes playing tennis in a high-tech court. Betas are the most fluid and dynamic caste in terms of fashion, and most of the garments I listed Lenina wearing (her rompers, trench coats, capes, wrap dresses) were very much present in the 30s. What makes the show’s costume design feel futuristic is the use of unusual textiles and colors and the combination of past and present fashion to create something new.

Night looks, then, go all out on the futuristic innovative side of fashion Huxley could never even possibly imagine. These looks, characteristic of New London’s social nightlife, are very much a result of the haute couture and technology of the present and our understanding of how fashion may look in the future from a 2010’s viewpoint, with 3D printed clothing that can morph into anything you design in real-time, selected from tech lenses that connect characters with the whole of society (yep, that happens in the show). Every scene that occurs in a nightclub is priceless because of the creativity behind each and every style for both the main actors and the extras, especially the female garments, and I believe it is something anyone interested in fashion should look forward to when watching Brave New World (if you choose to, but be careful because nudity and sex are primarily depicted in them).

It is in the nightlife scenes that Coulthard, Cottweiler (I would believe their collaboration resulted in at least the night looks), and Jakob Schlaepfer’s work become something transcendental and maybe even prophetic (not regarding the dystopian background, but the fashion scene). I say this because Brave New World’s night fashion is not the result of one person depicting what they think the future may resemble based on their perspective of life, but a consequence of haute culture and high-fashion brands giving their input on today’s fashion scene and likely trends to inform a more realistic future. It is indeed exciting to imagine how technology will influence how we will look, and it is even more exhilarating when seeing a well-crafted educated guess depicted visually on the screens.

Finally, I should mention the designs worn by the Savages. For contextualization, not all cities globally are ultra-technological conditioning hubs of progress, sex, soma (compliance and emotional welfare drug), and complacency. Some people decided not to give up their freedoms and solipsism to be part of Brave New World’s depiction of a flawed utopian society, so they live in poverty in reserves worldwide. The show’s Savage Lands are different from the books as they are located in an undisclosed US Midwestern place and work more like a resort, museum, and theater experience where the “savages” act out the sins behind concepts like monogamy, capitalist indulgence, and free will (crimes).

So, the savage garments represent how stuck in time (outdated) and materially impoverished they are. They wear something that resembles a 70s hippie style, with lots of disco suits, tank tops, and jeans and leather pants, belts, and jackets. The show does this to seemingly depict the savage community as a group of cults and gangs (the Savage Lands do look a lot like Spahn Ranch) seeking to remain outside of civilization’s mockery in a self-sufficient reserve. There is a lot of gaslighting between John, his lover Madysun, her boyfriend, and gang leader Sheila at the beginning of the show, and Sheila herself tried to get John into her gang to help them kill all outsiders in an act of defiance against the world.

John, then, goes through the most and least significant change in fashion of any character in Brave New World. He goes from troubled lover boy wearing dirty white t-shirts and tank tops with skinny pants and an orange shirt covered by a red nylon jacket to, when he moves to New London, troubled lover boy sometimes wearing light grey and white t-shirts and slacks, other times wearing black/navy velvet peacoats and black/navy slacks. The show depicts the “Savage” devoid of any bright hue in the new city, outfitted in the dullest of shades. Yet there are moments in the series that display John with a similar wardrobe to his Savage Lands style, especially his choice of a white t-shirt. He never wanted to go to New London; he just wished to escape the poverty-stricken place he lived in for his and his mother’s sake (played by Demi Moore), so at the beginning, his mentality in the city was one of escape, reflected by the similarly styled clothing. But as John began to fall in love with Lenina and (briefly) enjoys London, the fabrics and colors of his garments became darker and more sophisticated to represent him losing his principles, joy, and will to be free due to (mild spoiler) sexual indulgence and Lenina’s own doubts about free will and love’s importance against the “perfect life.”

In conclusion, Brave New World should be on anyone’s list who likes to watch shows not only because of their compelling stories and characters but also because of their ability to weave clothing and personalities together and translate possibility into a visual aesthetic that either predicts that future of fashion or provides grounds for inspiring future trends.

Cover Image Via

Source: https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/brave-new-...