In yesterday's post we looked at the evolution of a pair of pumps from the '20s into a more modern design. Yet, as fashion comes and goes, it is not rare to see on the runways other accessories that resemble pieces that were fashionable 40 or 50 years ago or that were made with traditional techniques that have been around for decades. Lemaire's S/S 17 collection features for example quite a few hand bags and totes made with the wooden beading technique.
Designers Christophe Lemaire and Sarah-Linh Tran included in their S/S 17 collection quite a few wearable and functional pieces in line with the main trends, so think oversized and exaggerated coats and jackets, relaxed silhouettes, roomy khaki trousers with large functional pockets matched with ruched blouses or with practical crew neck sweaters, and knitwear designs that looked like the garments ballet dancers wear during warm up.
Neutral tones prevailed, but there were also sudden splashes of colours that went from softer tones of powdery pink and duck egg blue for thin knits and pleated skirts to stronger shades of raspberry for a ruched tunic layered onto an asymmetric skirt.
There were also deep mustard shades for shifts and coats, plus collages of floral and abstract printed shirts and gathered dresses. Shoes included flat boots or see-through PVC sandals with cone heels and bags looked like variations of '60s lacquered wood bead bags or '70s car seat covers.
Between the '60s and the '70s it was not rare to see this technique being employed also for coasters and pot mats (I had a "make a kitchen table mat" craft kit when I was a child, but I turned it into a series of stacked bangles…I mean wood beads for a mat when I could wear them?).
Like the trend, but can't afford it? Well, there are other ways to relaunch it: Etsy and eBay offer a lot of vintage wood bead bags, but AliExpress seems to be the paradise of tacky wood bead car seat covers just waiting to be disassembled and reassembled into something else. In fact, this seems to be the sort of exercise in recycling the tacky and the bad that Demna Gvasalia/Vêtements may enjoy…
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