Jan 22 2009
On The Runway
Most women are into fashion. Myself included. I love pretty little tops and cute shoes. Like most women, I’m a huge fan of my Guess pants or a Gucci bag and I can tell you right now, in no uncertain terms that I would never turn down a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes. I love Oscar de la Renta, and Chanel, and Vera Wang, and D&G, to name but only a few. However, for the sake of being completely honest, and to risk sounding like a traitor to the fashion world, I simply do not understand the runway world of fashion.
People gather from all over the world, both in person and via screen, just to see the designer’s latest creations. Now that in itself makes sense to me, why wouldn’t you want to see the latest dress or suit from your favourite designer? But when you throw on these extreme outfits with exaggerated shapes and bold colours, I start to lose sight of the point. Paired with a thousand pounds of very obvious makeup and hair that looks like it once housed a bird or perhaps a family of mice, it starts to seem more like a frightening day at the circus rather than a fashion show.
The models are lost in these bizarre outfits, so much so that you hardly notice they’re in there. I was always taught by my mother that clothing was there to enhance a person, not to give them the ability to disappear!
I know some people say that its art, which in some circumstances, with a little imagination, perhaps it could pass for art, but since when is a dress, completely covered in white feathers, along with big hair - made to look like feathers, art? I personally just see a chicken suit, and if you really love chickens that much, why not go with your local school’s kindergarten class on their field trip to the farm?
I may be naive, but I simply cannot justify a woman on a runway sporting a chicken suit as art, let alone high fashion. I would rather view models in outfits that flatter them, that anybody could wear, anytime, out in the real world, not just on Halloween. Isn’t fashion about looking good and feeling good about yourself? Who can feel good about themselves when they have to walk through doorways sideways because the sleeves on their top stick out twice the width of the door frame? Such is the world of runway fashion and perhaps, in that world, for the sake of good fashion, it is all worth it.
