Fashion Recycles: Evolutionary Not Revolutionary

By Broadside Correspondent Thao Ngo

When we think of the word “green” nowadays, we no longer think of the quad in springtime or a nice cold bottle of Perrier. Instead, we think of Al Gore, hybrids and reusable grocery totes. In essence, recycling is an important process that helps sustain our lives. We’ve all learned from Sesame Street and our first years in grade school that reducing, reusing and recycling are the elements to a happy and healthy environment.

The same is true for fashion: styles recycle themselves. Why? Because fashion is evolutionary, not revolutionary – it mirrors the same slow changes as our culture. We’ve all noticed that certain trends are back: the 70s, 80s and even early 90s trends have been strong for the past few seasons with off-shoulder tops, high waistlines, skinny jeans and bomber jackets. Our parents can clearly identify the styling wave with a nostalgic point of view as daughters walk out of the house wearing familiar leggings or wide belts.

The Fall 2008 Fashion Week shows clearly found new ways to explore older inspirations. Burberry Prorsum revived the bell-bottom silhouette paired with knit sweaters and beanies, which was a flourishing 1970s trend. Another Top 10 at Fashion Week (claimed by British Elle magazine) was none other than Gucci, a regular show-stopper with sleek and edgy trademarks. This time, Frida Giannini, Gucci’s creative director, developed a slouchy yet refined, sophisticated Bohemian collection that the rock groupies of the 1970s would probably trade in their guitars for—minus the pantyhose.

So how is it that the looks of past decades avoid redundancy and still look new and fresh? How is it that we aren’t tired of seeing the same trends, and how is it that these designers are getting away with this recycling pattern? The answer was already stated: fashion is evolutionary. Here are a few tricks of the trade as to why:
Technology. New ways of developing fabrics and fabric designs are always emerging in the textile industry. Designers will always have their dated inspirations, but with newer and fresher materials and fabric designs, the old look will instantly change into something modern.

The Body. The main purpose of a designer is to be able to sell her/his clothes to people, and simply replicating an old trend inspiration will do anything but retain customers. It is the designer’s responsibility to find new ways of forming new shapes and flattering silhouettes. This results in small tweaks in certain trends that create new fits. Perfecting clothes to fit the female body is an ongoing obstacle that all designers are forced to tackle, and the results can be debatable.

Color. Color palette inspiration can make a 180- degree difference in an outfit. Some shapes simply look better in different hues, and with the new colors that develop in color forecasting companies such as The Color Association or DuPont Color, an ensemble that has remnants of the 70s or 80s can transform into an entirely different “millennium” look with a newly developed color scheme.

Because fashion recycles, it would be a smart decision to store the pieces you love in the back of your closet or attic if their time has retired. Then, as time goes by (and perhaps a few Special K bowls as well) you’ll be able to take your fashion treasures back out and tweak them however you like - by tailoring, dying, adding or cutting. It’s also a good idea to buy clothes with excellent fits – clothes that have the perfect fit are hard to go out of style. Buy items that you can see yourself wearing for more than next week’s party or job interview.

So remember my fellow fashionistas, reduce your spending of those part-time paychecks on trendy fads, reuse the perfect fitting items such as jackets and denim and recycle the key looks of each season when they come back in style. Going “green” has never been this fabulous.