Apologies for the self-referential post (but it's a very quick one…): Russian speakers may want to check out a feature I wrote about “cut and paste fashion” for the March issue of the Russian edition of Interview Magazine (edited by Aliona Doletskaya).
In the feature I wonder if originality still exists in the current fashion industry or if designers are merely “deriving” their creations from previous collections.
The article moves from cinema and looks at how costume designer Milena Canonero had an impact on the fashion industry and then passes onto exploring how contemporary fashion designers get inspired nowadays with many of them turning to the Internet and employing Tumblr or Instagram as the starting points for their collections.
The feature also looks at the main casualty of the deriving/revisiting process – the research aspect that seems to be neglected by the majority of fashion houses, but also wonders if the culture of constantly deriving new garments from previous collections may be damaging young people's creativity and giving them the impression that being a fashion designer means excelling in cut-and-paste exercises.
There is hope, though, and it's coming not just from advanced university courses, but from the most unlikely places such as scientific laboratories or even military institutions where new textiles and wearable technologies are being experimented. It may take a few more years to finally see the employment of nanotechnology, 3D printing or embedded computing platforms into everyday garments, but maybe that's where a truly innovative future for fashion will come from.
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