Anderson, who has recently hit headlines with the boiler suit he carefully created for Rihanna’s half time show at the Super Bowl which revealed her pregnancy, has raised concerns that he has about the British fashion industry. After names such as McQueen and McCartney have moved to the Paris schedule, this year’s London fashion week line up was left bare.
After names such as McQueen and McCartney have moved to the Paris schedule, this year’s London fashion week line up was left bare
The death of Dame Vivienne Westwood in December of last year has sent shockwaves through the world of British fashion. “Westwood was extraordinary – she changed British culture, and it feels like it is only now that we are appreciating the full scale of what she did”, said Anderson. Anderson seems to be taking inspiration from Westwood’s legacy and incorporating it into his own work, with his recent show focusing on anti-establishment messages and the use of punk-spirit.
The British fashion industry contributed almost £20 billion to the British economy in 2021 (UKFT), as well providing over 800,000 jobs to the nation. However, the industry doesn’t just prove as powerful in an economical sense, as the British fashion industry has had a huge influence on the global fashion world for many years. The industry also has had a particularly important role in depicting eras and ages through different styles. London has been recognised through the ages as a capital of progressive, expressive and vibrant fashion trends, which has no doubt impacted the entire fashion world.
The British fashion industry contributed almost £20 billion to the British economy in 2021 (UKFT), as well providing over 800,000 jobs to the nation
So what of the British fashion industry today, and how could the fashion industry revive a nation in paralysis? Anderson‘s concern is that the British fashion industry is not speaking loud enough, and it seems as though he plans to shake it up using punk.
If consumerism of the 70s post-modernism was a neatly set and perfectly laid table, then punk was the D.I.Y gritty hand that grabbed the cloth and pulled it so hard the table was left only shaking. Early British punks used fashion to express an anti-establishment ideology which rejected mainstream cultures and provided a space where at the very centre, was the rule that expression and creativity could not and would not be capped. The punk waves crashed all over the globe, leaving people dripping with a sense of anarchy and liberated expression.
Some suggest that punk itself today may have drifted somehow into the land of mainstream and this itself is cause for concern, as today we have a crisis of consumerism, capitalism and political motives which are being pushed from what sometimes feels like all angles. This is the pinnacle point in which British fashion can come in and create big changes.
Watch this space, as this is an incredibly exciting time.
