FLAVORFULL #012
"she was in the case of those who have cast in their lot with a fallen cause,” - Edith Wharton, Custom of the Country
Can you believe it’s already the first Monday in May, American Fashion, Part 2, Gilded Glamor, Lexicon, Spectacle, etc.? And again, I ask, what is American Fashion if it is not French? I have yet to see the exhibit in person, despite one of the dresses being taken from a ziplock bag under my couch straight to The Met for display. . . but I hope to see a full range of American designers represented despite the glaring lack of invite or financial accessibility that we will see on the red carpet tomorrow evening.
Books I’ve recently read and enjoyed: Among The Thugs, Bill Buford (1990); Malina, Ingeborg Bachmann (1971); Dr. Zhivago, Boris Pasternak (1957).
Anna’s Encore.
Anna Wintour’s career is one of unmatchable duration and tenacity, but the methods with which she has employed to resist fashion’s modernization do not necessarily continue to coat her career with gilded glamor. This past week, The Times published a piece titled ‘How Anna Wintour Wields Her Power.’ Despite presenting a slight tongue and cheek undertone to her staple eccentricities, particularly surrounding the organization and planning of the Met Gala, the reality remains that one person’s opinion should not singlehandedly run the entire enterprise that is American Fashion. New York Fashion Week may appear more regulated with CFDA (important to note that the Met Gala and CFDA were both founded by fashion publicist Lambert), as the reigning governing body; however, the industry knows that much of the true spectacle of American Fashion rests on the red carpet of Met Gala, an event entirely controlled by Anna Wintour’s concise opinions.
The Met Gala, founded in 1948, rapidly became New York’s most anticipated night of fashion and social appearances. What once was socialites draped in Halston became celebrities dressed in show stopping thematic costumes requiring multiple outfit changes. The ticket prices are hefty, and the standards required to merely be allowed to pay upwards of $200,000 for a table are even heftier. With the first Monday in May rapidly approaching, the Met Gala proves to be the perfect microscope with which we can reflect on Anna Wintour’s regime.
2020 was a remarkable reckoning for the fashion industry, economically and socially. A greater awareness of systemic issues within the industry was brought to the attention of a much larger group of people thanks to platforms such as TikTok and the growth of digital access that became necessary due to Covid. #RewiringFashion became a popular united front between contemporary labels in order to demonstrate their ‘want for change’.
Among the many burdened traditions that endured the scrutiny of 2020, such as nepo models and resort collections, so did Anna Wintour. Not only did she remain at the helm of Condé Nast’s precious gem, Vogue, she also received a substantial promotion to Condé Nast’s Chief Content Officer to all of their magazines, domestic and international. There was one prominent moment in the peak of fashion’s reckoning where the tension surrounding her possible departure was so palpable that several colleagues were asked by their editors to draft pieces on her relinquishing of control. But, as press releases, and cult of personalities go, she remained.
Her approval means everything to the American fashion industry, and beyond. One day you may be in, and the next day your shows may never be covered by Vogue again, your mainstream popularity wanes, and advertising opportunities become slim, all because of the antique opinion of a singular woman who has refused to simply do anything else. Her career, in its length and accumulation of power, is objectively impressive if not merely mind boggling. She has the power to wield her grace in ways that are certainly cause for concern such as her support for the re-welcoming of her darling John Galliano, despite his declarations in support of the Holocaust, even managing to place him at the helm of Maison Margiela.
Purposefully not referring to tenured employees by their names may be a cute pastiche of what it’s thought to be like in the fashion industry, but going so far as to be the perpetrator of elitism, lack of diversity, and unnecessary concentration of power, continues to squash the growth of many independent and small American designers. Particularly American designers who do have the potential to build a lasting legacy without being scooped off and hand picked to sit at the throne of a preexisting French house, or in most cases, never being having a door opened for them in the first place.
So, as it was examined last fall, the question remains–what is American Fashion, if it is not French? Surely more appropriate eras could have been chosen rather than the era of the Gilded Age where American Fashion was indeed solely French and not the fundamentals of American Fashion (ready to wear). In comparison, the Met’s 2006 Anglomania theme represented the colonial fantasy that was ephemeral British romanticism, and at the end of the day, Alexander McQueen sporting tartan and Sarah Jessica Parker on his arm, was an appropriate culmination of fashion and pop culture at the time. But how do you have a costume event based on American fashion, which is built on the shoulders of smaller, independent designers, in which the invite and the ticket prices are entirely out of their reach? Perhaps within this context, elevating the theme from black tie to white tie makes entirely too much heavy handed sense.
A tenured career in fashion is undoubtedly magnificent, and for those who do not eventually burn out of the industry due to a lack of significant change, a similar goal is presumably desired. Despite its glacial progress, what sustains the industry is exactly that–a desire for change and the forward motion of innovation. But the steady reality remains that Anna has not and will not change, nor will she leave so we must collectively search elsewhere for the true heart of the future of American Fashion.
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