SUBCULTURES & DESIGNERS

These are some references about how subcultures inspire designers no matter how long has been since their creation. These are photos from Fall 2011/12 shows.

Manish Arora and the Rockabilly Look

This season had a lot of inspiration from the first decades of the 20th century. Silhouettes and among other things - the Beauty in Manish's show had these colored headpieces that combined with the make up reminded me of the "lots of gel" Updos from the 50's.

2 Rockabilly looks and Manish Arora Fall 11/12 Fashion show

Marc by Marc Jacobs and 70's Hippies

He continues to be inspired by the hippies, the same way he was in the previous season for Louis Vuitton. This 70's subculture it's still very trendy at the moment, good for spring/summer and fall. Sunglasses, straight long hair, earth tones for the materials, flares and denim are all part of his collection.

Look from the Hippies and 2 shots from Marc by Marc Jacobs Fall 11/12 Fashion show

Louis Vuitton and the Goths

This time Marc Jacobs chose the Goth culture to be inspired by. Mainly their fetishism, choice of materials like shiny leather, sheer fabrics, corsets and black! Some revealing portions of the body, like here represented and inspired by Siouxsie from Siouxsie and the Banshees.

2 shots from the Siouxsie's Goth look and Louis Vuitton Fall 11/12 Fashion show

Chanel and Grunge

Chanel this is getting their inspiration from the grunge culture, which is always related to ragged cloths, check shirts and ripped jeans but Lagerfeld had a smart twist on this group as an inspiration, he got the "dirty" colors, tones of grey, the roughness of the look but with very special fabrics that made the pieces a more expensive look. Instead of chosing the check print he made the visual link using the same colors as the basic check short but deconstructing it.

2 shots from the grunge look and Chanel Fall 11/12 Fashion show

This one is a quite "old show" but,to me, has a very clear inspiration from this subculture and one of my favourites brand - Comme des Garçons - inspired by Grunge.

Fall 2003

PS: Just to ad something very recent. Lady Gaga's new video Judas with a lot of visual references but one in particular (and it seems to me that she is going in this direction for the beginning of this new cd promotion), the CHOLA look.

Gaga's "Judas" Video