White total onions in spring-summer collections
IN A CONSTANT WONDERZINE HEAD talks about trends from the podium that can be adapted for your wardrobe for the next six months. In this issue, we understand why this season, almost all designers have included white total-bows in their collections.
How it all began
White color has the highest brightness, and if black is the absence of color, then white is the sum of all colors. By nature, it neutralizes the rest of the colors and is associated with emptiness. The most symbolic and most historic color: somewhere - a symbol of purity, somewhere - mourning. This is definitely a philosophical color with a mass of shades of meaning — from religious to political — that are invested in it. Since ancient times kings and priests wore white clothes, and then the bourgeoisie. White ribbons were tied on feminist clothes — in this case, white appeared as a symbol of consciousness.
White came into fashion thanks to tennis: the first tennis dresses were made of white fabric at the end of the 19th century by Wimbledon. It was at this moment that the white lost his odiousness and sacredness. Judging by the archives, Madeleine Vionnet was one of the first to work with white. She sewed without snow white dresses, which she built with precision architectural drawing. Beginning in the 1920s, Vionne was inspired by the aesthetics of antiquity and created snow-white satin dresses made of draperies with Greek-style plumes. She improved tennis dresses and invented pleating in the 30s. Vionne used white fabric, which was then borrowed from her by Gabrielle Chanel. However, the white color in the era of black and white cinema becomes the main one, because it didn’t matter what color the heroine’s dress was - on film and in history it remained white. The widespread appearance of white on the catwalks of the fashion world is obliged to the minimalists of the 90s: Helmut Lang, Gilles Zander, Raf Simons. Well and, of course, a whole galaxy of Japanese and Belgian avant-garde artists - for them, black and white became key colors that do not distract from experiments with cutting and fabrics. Today on the catwalks we see replicas of how designers worked with white in the 90s.
How to wear white now
After several seasons, during which the designers showed prints and actively used color, the widespread appearance of white things on the runways is very refreshing. The appearance of white - the last attempt to get rid of all the excess. Absolute purity of colors and lines, minimalistic cut, the use of white paired with transparent made the spring-summer 2014 season the peak of modern minimalism, a wave of which gradually covered everyone with a head. And yes, the main color of the season is white.
Regarding color, designers express complete freedom of action. J.W. Anderson shows a half-white collection in which it uses transparent organza and textured skin for asymmetric things. British Simone Roche showed white asymmetrical dresses and coats, decorated with pearls, and including transparent things. His show of Roche and all finished with wedding dresses with transparent capes. White things can be safely worn with black accessories - take a look at the Helmut Lang collection. Today's designers of the brand Nicole and Michael Kolovos demonstrate the classics - laconic things of white color: summer coat, wide and cropped trousers, a shortened bomber jacket, vests, T-shirts paired with straight skirts, snow-white tuxedos - all this complete with black sandals, boots and bags. Designers play on the contrast of black and white, as in the works of American minimalist artist Wade Guyton. Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein shows a crystal clear collection: white asymmetrical tops, jackets and skirts with raw edges, tops with transparent inserts. Felipe Oliveira Baptista, who today makes minimal collections for Lacoste, finishes her show with seven white total bows: snow-white jackets with transparent inserts, transparent bombers paired with white T-shirts, transparent dress-shirts. White total bows have included in their collections even those brands that have shown variegated collections this season - just take a look at the Marni collection. Kenzo, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Dries Van Noten show white things with inserts: black, blue, gold. White total bows are in the collections of Derek Lam, Issey Miyake, Stella McCartney, Jil Sander, Prabal Gurung.
BEWARE!
It is best - and this is clearly seen in the collections - to dwell on minimalist things with an architectural cut. White color looks especially good and fresh together with lilac (close to the color of the year according to Pantone version), as well as other pastel colors - dusty-pink and mint. Do not ignore the bright yellow color. With accessories of these colors, white total onions will look advantageous and still more interesting than with black things. By the way, about the yellowness. It is clear that the white color is incredibly complex, especially carefully it should be treated in everyday wear. Pay attention that in your wardrobe the yellowed and grayish things do not go together with white-boiled ones. Beware of white lace things - they look cloying and old-fashioned. The plus of white is that it is able to combine different things in a harmonious picture, such as a strict tuxedo, sport bermuda shorts on the drawstring and sandals - in white they look like they were made for each other. And yes, white is full, but damn refreshing.
Photo: Turbo Yulia A / W 2013 Lookbook, Getty Images / Fotobank (4), Shutterstock