It’s an open secret that fashion goes in circle. But the top skill creation of women’s (and as well as men’s) look, in the straightforward sense, and in a figurative sense, too, has always been and always will be a hat. People called it differently – a cap or a bonnet, a beret or a peaked cap, a cap with ear-flaps (ushanka) or a baseball cap, a top hat or a flapper, a boater or a turban, a cocked hat or a fez… but the main point remained the same: a hat embodies the art of reincarnation, a game of a made-up personality. Psychologists also confirm this observation. They claim that a hat is a symbol of defense: a person who wears a hat guards his/her personality and tries to create a completely new look for him/ her self. No matter what we look like, our real personality may remain a secret to others. However, let’s return to the models that we are offered to try on this season.
Conjuring up pictures of the mysterious future in their mind’s eye, designers are looking back at the Middle Ages again as a source of inspiration. The romantic mood of travel and the power of the knight errant are prompting them ideas for their new collections. But this time, fair ladies are trying chain armors and helmets on. The unquiet external setting keeps women’s fashions under a strong impact of the retro-military style. One of the most recognizable styles in history, it is easily «read» by the clear-cut elements of its design and carefully-checked rhythms which, like the framework of Gothic churches, are conveyed through an intricate play of seams, leather trimming and decorative metal elements. The generous use of furs accentuates the contrast. On the one hand, furs soften the rigid framework, but on the other, help shape the volume. Furs of two kinds are used here - very fluffy, like silver fox, or short, like North American black mink, or even plucked (beaver or musk-rat.)
Downhill skiing gear has broken through the limits of expensive pastime, becoming a trendy style. The fur industry, which has every right to associate itself with luxury, has not overlooked the new «skiing couture» fashion. The Chanel House was the founder of this and many other styles. It was followed by no less celebrated fashion designers, among them JC de Castelbajac and Anna Sui, while Marquis Emilio Pucci began his fashion career as a downhill skiing instructor. Designers scrupulously concentrated their attention on the new aesthetical features of a sport that stands at the juncture of two diametrically opposed phenomena: the snow and the sun, hi-tech and ethno, street style and private parties. The result thus achieved was caught up by all glossy magazines of the season. L’Officiel wrote that snow sports provide far more opportunities for improvisation and inspiration.
A combination of voluminous anoraques, jackets and overalls, made of ultra-modern materials and complete with fur trimming and large fur hats has become an axiom for visitors of the «right» ski hotels. Incidentally, judging by witnesses’ accounts, Russian is the most commonly spoken language at Courchevel.
The easiness of living and the clarity of the mind. The white color conveys hope leading us along through our everyday routine. Let skeptics argue that the white color and practicality are incompatible like the genius and the evil. Karl Lagerfeld insists that the white color encompasses all images, silhouettes and colors. It is the focal point containing infinite opportunities, he said. Having remembered the white color, fashion designers immediately sifted their attention to the source of light - the sky, the sunshine and the lace of clouds. The foam-white weightlessness of the angel’s feathers, trimmed with gold leaf is extremely up-to-date. In an attempt to approach perfection, designers have tested many techniques: open-work perforated patterns on leather, delicate fringes and, of course, light-weight fur trimmings. The Fendi sisters are in the vanguard of this trend again: white mink combined with transparent chiffon creates the impression of a cloud. Ungaro and Alexander McQueen, on the contrary, use the «knitting technique» a-la «fluffy cloud.»
The standard and multi-brand essence of modern culture has caused the customers’ massive weariness. For many, the accentuated hand-made and natural look of materials is the best relief from «benefits of civilization.»
In their search for spiritual balance, designers are continuing their exploration of the most out-of-the-way corners of our planet: from mysterious Tibet to the silent quietness of the snow-covered Northern flatlands. They keep borrowing naive, but amazingly expressive methods of work with the surface and form from the ancient cultures, and are learning to revive the feeling of harmony from observing objects created by Nature, long forgotten in the present-day techno race. As a result, their collections are dominated by plain hand-knitted elements, which look like things just removed from the granny’s locker, and by artificially aged materials. But the main element is furs finished on both sides and resembling sheepskin coats - for insurance mink, or plucked beaver. Paradoxically, the mood of aloofness is created through the use of the most advanced methods, including multi-tone dyeing and stepped grooving.
Fashion yet again tends to change its outlines, and we, like Alice beyond the Looking Glass, obediently watch things undergoing transformations. Then again, wonderful jubilees come one after another. One hundred forty years ago Lewis Carol published his Alice in Wonderland for the first time. Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse are also celebrating their 70th and 75th birthdays. The famous characters have inspired designers to think of congratulations in a not-at-all-childish way. Elements of play, unpredictability and transformability are becoming important while creating headgear this season. This is how the little girl that lives in any woman, just awoken from sleep, finds an outlet from the Rabbit’s hole.
In furs this effect is obtained through original dyeing effects, the use of untraditional colors or through various finishing. Another typical thing is decorating luxury furs with large ornaments.
Fur hats with ear flaps , «ushanka’s,» have been familiar to everyone since childhood. Very few remember today that they appeared in peasant Russia just over 100 years ago. First specimens date back to the last third of the 19th century, and the ushanka fashion spread only in the 1920s. In the Soviet era, ushanka’s were worn all over the Soviet Union. Nothing suggested that anything revolutionary will happen to this hat design. But, here is a breakthrough. Glossy European magazines announced last year that all trendy people must necessarily wear «ushanka’s» from Dior or Michael Kors. This year, two Canadians, the creators of the Dsquared much desired trademark, have offered the public a new cross between ushanka and the baseball cap. It has all elements of ushanka (the head, visor and ear flaps), but the old form has changed beyond recognition. Hitting the comfortable mood of the sport style, that has filled the North American fur fashion, «basebush» has immediately become the best-selling hat style
We can announce with pride that Russia is in fashion again, as European designers enthusiastically concentrated on the revival of Russia’s «ruled family traditions». Gaultier has completed the image of the gold-embroidered coyote jacket with a hat in the style of the early 20th century rustic cap. Balmain presented a tall hat that went together with an embroidered brocade caftan. A flat hat demonstrated to Prokofyev’s music was the hit of the Prada collection. All of these things are based on the image of Russia that has taken shape under the impact of canonical films, like «Doctor Zhivago» with Omar Sharif and Julie Christie starring, and looking somewhat exaggerated to the Russian eye. The core thing here is to observe the balance between three main elements which make a thing a real hit: functionality, up-to-dateness and combinability with anything one has in the wardrobe.
Jerome K. Jerome once said that fine people can be spotted by their habit of wearing black clothes and excellent people are dressed in black from head to toe, to the gloves and the tie. A hundred years later, a film was made about men in black.
Furs, in all their splendor, have been an inalienable part of men’s garments since the times when furs were sold at auctions in candle light, and when they were used to make cloaks for kings and the world’s great monarchs as a symbol of power and might. The 21st century has given us one more surprise - the emergence of a new dweller of the urban jungles - the metrosexual. A male who has a habit of checking his reflection in the mirror faultfindingly, although remaining straight, looks at wearing furs as a natural comeback to the benefits of Nature. Fur has comfortably replaced nylon jackets and synthetic coats. In the past two seasons the West has been inundated with new offers in men’s fur fashion whose sophistication has far outstripped the choice of women’s garments.
(Prepared by Lubov’ Kalashnikova based on the material taken from HAT TRENDS magazine www.trendfc.ru)