DECAY

Despite what sexed-up vampire shows like True Blood try to tell us, there is nothing sexy about death. The cold, grotesque reality of a corpse is something which strikes fear and disgust into the heart of most – it is a cruel reminder of our finite reality, our inevitable end. Fashion, however, mostly conjures up far more pleasant images. From the location-based fantasies of fashion editorial to the luxury fabrics and displays of extravagance shown on the runway, fashion is designed to be aspirational. Gender politics and political issues occasionally get mentioned (mainly thanks to Miuccia and Vivienne), but at its core fashion is an industry built on aspiration. On the whole, we aspire to wealth and to beauty, and the runways reflect these aspirations en masse.

However, in a recent series entitled UGLY, Showstudio launched an investigation into the concept of ugliness and how it can be rendered desirable in the hands of certain mavericks. The series is also designed to explore the various reasons for the social reluctance to accept ugliness – after all, society is informed by its surroundings. The things that we see and associate as ‘ugly’ are not only repulsive to us because of our own life experiences and our own perceptions, but the perceptions of the age in which we grew up. The example that Lou Stoppard cites as being “of our time” is the Harley Street generation, a legion of men and women determined to bleach out any imperfection. We are often told our imperfections are what make us perfect, but in a world of “Human Barbies” and silicone experiments gone wrong, it seems that we are reluctant to listen to this advice. It could be as simple as covering a pimple or as extreme as breast enhancement, the concept remains the same – it is the concept of “self-improvement” which we are shown to be technologically possible in the modern world. Unsurprisingly enough, the importance of hygiene and cleanliness is also related to these examples of aesthetic perfection. Decay, disease, dirtiness – all of these are to be avoided at all costs. Instead, our bodies and faces should be gleaming, free of blemishes, plastic, artificial.

UGLY: McQUEEN

It is often assumed that fashion and beauty are synonymous with one another. Beauty is aspirational, seemingly achievable, and certainly profitable. High-profile designers curate advertisements selling not only a product, but a lifestyle, and men and women alike buy into the fantasy on a daily basis. Fashion rarely explores the grotesque, the ‘ugly’, because it is not profitable and, ultimately, a fashion house cannot survive without profit.

We see designers – new, young designers like J.W Anderson and Christopher Kane, both of which have built their reputation on repurposing the banal. One collection saw Kane using repurposed materials, creating mini-dresses from refuse sacks, whereas Anderson sought to give a high-fashion makeover to the most banal clothing category imaginable; the uniform. This was, in some ways, a radical move as uniform clothing is the antithesis of the fashion industry and its purpose. Fashion is supposed to provide us with choice, whereas a uniform is built for routine. We are supposed to discover our own style based on our preferences, whereas a uniform is rudely thrust upon us – when we are uniformed, we represent an institution as opposed to an individual.

Both designers were successful because they challenged standards of beauty – Kane rebuked the notion that luxury fabrics are imperative to high fashion, whereas Anderson rebelled against the implication of uniformity as mundanity whilst also destroying gender codes (men in heels, anybody?) However, they were also successful because they pushed the envelope just far enough to be marginally radical yet to not alienate potential clients. Kane’s vinyl skirts even landed him huge sponsorship, whereas Anderson’s collection was, despite the male models and their vertiginous platforms, commercially-viable. Both designers ventured outside the expected affiliation of fashion and beauty, but they did not fully explore the grotesque.