Men’s Fashion Week - Paris/Milan
After the fall.
The recent fashion weeks in Paris and Milan unveiled menswear collections for Spring 2009. This year Donatella Versaci based a portion of her collection on Obama, just as last year she drew inspiration from Monsignor Ganswein. Whatever.
The Parisian collections seem to have been the show-stopper of the entire season however, unveiling the androgynous look for men. Gay Paris I guess. Recall a few seasons ago how John Galliano’s (Dior) entire couture (women’s) collection was based upon the French Revolution, with mannequins made-up to look like sexy corpses, wearing jewels and crystals resembling bloodied necks, and so on. The Paris fashion scene is decidedly debauched and decadent, and it shows.
Effeminacy.
Although spin from Stephano Pilati of YSL declares - ”The original human nature was not like the present, the sexes were not two as they are now” a statement taken from Plato, although preposterously updated for the New Age - it is in effect a political statement. (The feminization of contemporary men is another story - although such fashions are part of the outcome.) The Paris show is decidedly one of many innovations designed to eliminate gender barriers and classifications traditional to Western civilization. Thus people can laugh the fashion shows off as insignificant entertainment in order to hype menswear and garner publicity - but I believe such productions are much more politically motivated than many people are willing to admit.
“The most striking thing is the amount of crossover from women’s collections that seems to be happening,” Michael Roberts, fashion director of Vanity Fair magazine, told The Associated Press. “A little bit of that goes a long way as far as I’m concerned. I just find it a little bit annoying that I’m supposed to be here for a week watching men’s shows, and I keep having to pinch myself to remind myself that I’m not in the women’s pret-a-porter,” he added. - Source
Pride.
Time will tell. At one time gay pride parades were just a few hundred people marching in stereotypical gay costumes - and people laughed them off. Today many still parade around dressed or undressed in outrageous costumes, although now days clergy, politicians, straight relatives and friends, along with thousands of other supporters join in the celebrations in major cities throughout the world. It has now become a formidable political movement, influencing government and religion, media and entertainment, and as always, fashion.
Designer, Stephano Pilati underscored the union of genders with a line for men made in fabrics normally worn by women — crepe de chine, organza, shantung and silk voile, all fabrics which float rather than fall.
In an era obsessed with global warming and sustainable development, the 44 spring/summer 2009 collections displayed at the four-day men’s fashion shows ending Sunday featured light airy see-through linens, silks and soft feathery cottons. - Source
Changing times.
Of course, the entire collections were not completely androgynous, straight fashions were included as well. Shrug. So anyway, a friend sent me the text of the prophecy of St. Nilus, here is an excerpt:
“After the year 1900, toward the middle of the 20th century, the people of that time will become unrecognizable. When the time for the Advent of the Antichrist approaches, people’s minds will grow cloudy from carnal passions, and dishonor and lawlessness will grow stronger. Then the world will become unrecognizable. People’s appearances will change, and it will be impossible to distinguish men from women due to their shamelessness in dress and style of hair. These people will be cruel and will be like wild animals because of the temptations of the Antichrist. There will be no respect for parents and elders, love will disappear, and Christian pastors, bishops, and priests will become vain men, completely failing to distinguish the right-hand way from the left. - Prophecy of St. Nilus
Links:
Men’s 2009 Paris fashion blurs gender lines.
Men’s fashion with a feminine touch; Paris 2009
(Thanks to Paula for the story and links.)
June 30th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Any fairy costumes with little white wings?
June 30th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
That prophecy! And look at the history of the length of women’s hair…..very interesting.
It’s only in the last century that a woman would cut her hair short, before that even older women kept their hair long, keeping it up with braids and buns.
I remember seeing my grandmother brush her long, long hair which she kept up in two braids that she crossed and pinned on her head—she was a beauty and even in her eighties had a feminine charm which delighted us all.
What has happened?
June 30th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
It’s crap.
The only Donatella Versace I like is the one played by Maya Rudolph on Saturday Night Live.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
The Parisian designers are nuts but what else is new?
June 30th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
If God doesn’t correct our behavior then he is a joke or a fairy tale.I believe that God is real,and like all good parents he will help us with an attitude adjustment.Have you ever been in the car when one of the kids is acting out,and you try to whack the offender,but get the wrong kid instead? I am hoping that when the big whack comes, and it is coming , that God has real good aim.
July 1st, 2008 at 1:58 pm
I thought about this post tonight as my husband and I went to pick up his suits at a very popular men’s clothing store here in Hyderabad, India. I was admiring the beadwork and intricate embroidery on the long shervanis (remember the Nehru jacket of the 60s? that’s a shervani–check this out: http://tinyurl.com/3knchn and this one: http://tinyurl.com/5mkko7 )
and on the long kurta-pajamas, thinking how this would be considered incredibly feminine in the West. But here, grooms dress pretty, as do the gents in the immediate family of the bride and groom. It all goes back to tradition and custom of the Hyderabad Nizams, and the Mogul Emperors of India. Those dudes back then dressed better than women in the West do today. And, man! They had jewelry to rival the queen’s. (check this out: http://tinyurl.com/6646wc and yes, those pieces were worn by the men.) Yet, even dressed in all that pretty clothing and jewelry, most of them were very aggressive and tyrannical s.o.b.’s!
The thing that mattered then — as now, both in the Eastern and Western cultural fashions — is that what fashions and looks were perceived as masculine (no matter how much we think of it as “pretty”) was assigned only to men, and vice versa. If a man were dressed in a saree, even a plain brown tweed one, it would automatically be assumed that he is a “eunich” or “Hijira”, and a woman dressed in the fanciest beaded and embroidered shervani would just be looked at as extremely odd, and probably considered a cross-dresser.
Fashions trends, ever wavering and flittering, like the worthless smoke in the breeze that they are. Vanity of vanity; all is vanity!
July 1st, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Oh these shervanis are much more tasteful than the previous link I posted: http://www.diwansaheb.com/sherwani.html
July 1st, 2008 at 3:30 pm
I once worked for a man who wore full make-up every day at work - this was in the ’80’s at a major department store - he had a very important and visible position. Natural hues of course, although the mascara and eyeliner was a bit pronounced, but then he wore glasses, so the exaggeration was understandable. Sometimes the blush got a bit heavy too.
He dressed impecably, and never had a hair out of place. He admired men of the 17th century who wore lace and powdered wigs and make-up.
July 2nd, 2008 at 6:08 am
Georgette, those men’s clothes are really cool.
July 2nd, 2008 at 6:27 am
yeah, but was he aggressive and tyrannical? or was he a “eunich” (Indian code word for homosexual)?
“…the exageration was understandable.”
LOL!