Fashion Lineage

As we hit the early years of the 21st century, creative thinking and design start to become recycled, blended, regurgitated and influenced from past artists. Originality starts to become extremely rare as the creative field becomes more and more competitive and the ability to start your own business is a mouse click away. For example, Chris Benz line (shown above) is a great example of using 50s, 60s and 70s inspired trends to create a style of his own. In an article by Christine Barberich on Refinery29.com, her interview displays his thought process on how he came to create his first line–adding pictures, photos, and collection of items he finds in his spare time on a wall.

From this visual example of his inspirations, we can see that there are a lot of inspirations that spring from past trends and/or advertisements.

Looking at fashion, we begin to see the same recycled images we see in art. At times it is done well and at most times it is not. However, what is interesting about todays Fashion is that just because the price of a shirt is high, doesn’t mean that it is a high-fashion commodity. The birth of expensive streetwear is becoming very prominent in the fashion world. A simple Nike limited edition sneaker could cost just as much as a Versace dress made for Nicole Kidman. Street fashion has now become a growing economy-feeding culture next to the sophisticated fashion pioneers of haute couture.

I recently visited the RIF sneaker store in Little Tokyo and was in awe by the prices labeled on their limited edition shoes. These Air Jordan VII are going for $600 next to many other collectable Air Jordans in the store. This item next to the other 22 Michael Jordan shoe releases that come out every blue moon. You must be thinking $600 for shoes? Well, to parallel, I wouldn’t pay $600 for a Louis Vuitton bag either. However, this is a very common trend rapidly rising in our youth culture.

And as I read more blogs, I realize that there is a huge crossover with high-fashion designers with streetwear brands, high-fashion designers with big retailers like H&M, and corporate designers producing more personal independent lines to match the current street fashion buzz.