Ah, words. We depend from visual stimuli and from heavy doses of image scrolling on social media to dumb our senses, yet words remain powerful tools that can immediately conjure up in our minds and hearts an idea or a mood. An example? "Permacrisis", the term chosen by the Collins Dictionary at the beginning of November as Word of the Year 2022.
The word is used to define "an extended period of instability and insecurity" and first appeared in academic contexts in the 1970s. It reappeared in 2018 and then in 2021, especially in the aftermath of Covid-19, and was often mentioned in connection with various financial, social and political issues, in particular Europe, volatility, uncertainty and a prolonged sense of emergency.
While we have been living in crises for decades, we have been trapped in a concatenation of very unfortunate and tragic events on a global level for the last three years, a scary and disruptive domino effect that started from the early dark days of the Covid-19 pandemic and continued with the Russian invasion in Ukraine that started in February this year, the gas/electricity bill emergency that ensued and that is having an impact on all of us, and the climate change emergency, not to mention political instability and socio-cultural tensions in different countries all over the world.
In a way, the word applies to our private sphere as well, with diffused crises touching our professional and personal lives, with career changes, relationships that implode or pipes that explode (obviously always when your plumber is not available). Originating from the sense of pessimism that prevails in the modern global society and with a more negative connotation than terms such as "general crisis" of "generalized crisis", permacrisis gives us the impression that there is no way out and that we are close to the collapse of our civilization.
We may use "permacrisis" in the fashion industry as well: like every other sector, also fashion has been going through high levels of uncertainty and unpredictability. Yes, fashion weeks have rebooted after Covid-19 and even multiplied, but that doesn't guarantee a fashion house or a brand can prosper in difficult social and financial times as brands often produce more than we can buy or even desire. Demna Gvasalia's Balenciaga incarnates the values of the permacrisis concept, with those ill-fitting designs, baggy trousers and massive shoulders, post-apocalypse moods and muddy clothes dedicated to those who do not necessarily live in a state of permacrisis, but want to pretend to do so. Somehow you wonder why Gvasalia hasn't done yet a Balenciaga "permacrisis" T-shirt or hoodie, but maybe he will do so at some point before the end of the year.
Permacrisis tops a list of 10 words which represent 2022. Apart from "partygate" (the scandal of social gatherings in Downing Street during the pandemic, contravening public health rules), "Carolean" (a reference to King Charles after the death of Queen Elizabeth II) and "splooting" (the act of lying flat on the stomach on a cool surface with legs stretched out as a way of countering unusually high temperatures), others words that should be noted are "Kyiv", a reference to the Ukrainian capital and the Russian invasion and "warm banks", heated public places such as a library or a place of worship where people who cannot afford to heat their own homes due to spiralling energy costs can go.
Among the 2022 words there are also "lawfare", the use (or abuse) of legal powers to silence opponents; "vibe shift", a significant change in a prevailing cultural atmosphere or trend; "quiet quitting", that is doing no more work than one is contractually obliged to do, in the desperate attempt to regain a work-life balance, and "sportswashing".
The latter is particularly relevant at the moment: evoking "greenwashing" it hints at covering the dirty things of a country or distracting the public attention from them by organising sports events. Sadly, it is extremely trendy at the moment, especially with the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar kicking off tomorrow. Qatar remains a questionable choice for such an event for its human rights violations, ranging from the mistreatment of migrant workers to the discrimination that people from the LGBTQ+ community have to face and to the repressive laws curbing the freedom of expression.
Collins Dictionary monitors its 18bn-word database and a range of media sources, including social media, to create an annual list of new and notable words. Previous Collins' words of the year include lockdown, climate strike, fake news, Brexit, binge-watch and photobomb, while last year's word of the year for the Oxford Dictionary was, very aptly, "vax".
Can we escape the permacrisis? Will there be a "vibe shift" in our lives? Right now it seems unlikely, so you may start thinking about a uniform for the permacrisis.
What do you think, minimalist clothes, but a statement piece of jewellery, bold colours or clashing patterns? Maybe transformative or modular clothes could be the solution as they offer the chance to adapt and allow the wearer to use one garment and wear it for the apocalypse or for a glamorous occasion. After all, inertia is not an option if you want to get out of all sorts of crises and only by changing and moving on you remain relevant or survive, so the transformative trend may be the vibe shift we need.
This is not a new concept in fashion and we saw it in Chalayan's A/W 2013 collection, but younger designers are getting into this concept as well, as Wowqing proves with her quilted jacket that turns into a dress (from her "Become Adults Who Believe Elephants Can Fly" collection).
One last note, as the year draws to an end, don't forget to start taking notes from January for the 2023 word of the year. I'm personally betting on "megathreats". Too ominously apocalyptic? Well, yes, but with recession always around the corner, the collapse of healthcare systems, geopolitical instability, tensions between countries that may escalate (think China-Taiwan), natural disasters and extreme weather events, things may just get darker and scarier.
Yet, don't be afraid to say words infused with pessimism such as "permacrisis" or "megathreats": it is indeed only by naming something that we can face it and learn how to deal with it.
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