better luck next season

Not too long ago, I was groaning nonsensically about the lack of cohesiveness in fashion. To clarify, I wasn't suggesting that designers needed to gather together and decide on one particular trend to harp upon each season, although some years it seems as though this is exactly what they do. I just think that when you get to the end of a show and you have no idea what the designer's point of view is and/or you haven't seen anything new-- that's a problem.

Photos of John Galliano courtesy of NY Mag.

It's even more upsetting when you view a season's worth of shows and you are still baffled about both the artistic vision and the practical application of what you've seen (with a few wonderful exceptions, of course). That's why I throughly enjoyed Cathy Horyn's review of the 2009 men's Spring/Summer couture shows for the New York Times, entitled "Soft Touches, Too Heavy-Handed". Always fierce in her delivery, Horyn takes on this issue one disjointed collection at a time. My favorite part was her biting introduction:

Whether designers have been looking at the same art, reading the same books or just wishing they were anyplace but here, their spring 2009 men’s collections seem to have hit the same wall. They aren’t so much about real dreams and opinions as random thoughts.

Photo of Dior courtesy of NY Times.

We, the consumers, really do have the ultimate power to decide for ourselves what trends to accept and which to reject. I only hope that the masses find balance between creativity and function with the mess we've been delivered this time around.