Velocity Girl: Body, Speed and Movement as Contemporary Fashion Trends (Directly Borrowed From the Early 1900s…)

Being focused on the present and the future we often forget how much we depend from the past. Consider our current fascination with luxury sportswear and high-tech dynamic clothes (in some cases not even meant to be used as performance wear…). Do you think it comes from modern times? Then you are greatly mistaken.

People started getting more interested in modernity and body movement in the first decades of the 1900s: for what regards the performing arts, the Ballets Russes introduced new ways for the body to move, while the art scene had already shown a strong interest in dynamic forms of expression.

The Italian Futurists, for example, such as Fortunato Depero, Giacomo Balla, and Umberto Boccioni, created dynamic paintings, drawings and abstract collages inspired by speed, dynamism, and new means of transport.

Boccioni's studies in the continuity of space resulted in the sculpture "Forme uniche della continuità nello spazio" (Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, 1913). In the latter, the artist harmonised speed and force into a sculptural form, creating a figure that strides forward leaving behind fluidly aerodynamic ripples, curves and lines.

In "Dinamismo di un calciatore" (Dynamism of a soccer player, 1913), the painter focused on the surrounding atmosphere, letting movement and light destroy the body of the player (only the calf remains) and turning it into a swirl of kaleidoscopic colours that represent the energy of the athlete.

Boccioni studied instead in "Dinamismo di un ciclista" (Dynamism of a Cyclist, 1913) dynamic movement through a racing cyclist, a Futurist symbol of modern life, representing a man that moves swiftly through time and space by the propulsion of his legs enhanced by modern technology.

If speed was heroic, dynamism was indeed the only road to progress for the Futurists and this was clear also in Giacomo Balla's works. Balla produced multiple-exposure paintings that portray a single shape, repeated several times.

The hand of a violinist or the body of a girl running on a balcony ("Ragazza che corre sul balcone", 1912) were multiplied by the artist to give the impression they moved on a canvas, while lines of forces and curved speed lines literally transformed means of transports such as a motorcycle or an automobile or the swirl of a flock of swallows outside the artist's window into abstract forces (see the paintings "Velocity of an Automobile" or "Flight of the Swallows").

In the past we have seen specific designers borrowing from the patterns created by the Futurists; there seems to be instead an emphasis on Balla's multiple-exposure effect in the latest fashion campaigns/collections, such as the NikeLab x Sacai collaboration.

Sacai designer Chitose Abe added her signature pleated elements and pannelling to sport pieces: accordion-like peplums and pleats that shoot out from the back were integrated in a hoodie, a skirt or the classic Nike Windrunner to give them a sense of dynamism.

This eight-piece capsule collection – that will be available from next week at NikeLab locations and online – was also conceived as a collision of different sportswear, from running and tennis to football, boxing and cycling.

We'll see if consumers will use these garments as performance wear or if they will be more interested in using them to pose in and recreate the dynamic lines of the Futurists through their pleats and panels. In the meantime, to remain in a speed and movement mood, I'm going to leave you with Snow Patrol's "Velocity Girl". Enjoy.