SEPTEMBER 2019 241
GORUNWAY.COM
“We are seeing
a new era where
sophisticated, sex y
silhouettes are the
rule, bringing back
the day when
dressing-up
was a joy”
in a plethora of prints from zebra to polka dot are
designed with the club or bar in mind. “Most of our styles
look their best in action on the dance floor. Especially our
long flowy numbers with frills or ruffles ... if you get
tired of your long trail we often put in a little hook and
eye that you hitch the dress up with.”
Heading out and letting go creates a special kind of
escapism, which is gaining more appeal in a tumultuous
time (consider Iranian tensions with an easily agitated
President of the United States) and designers are
naturally indulging in decadent details. Footwear
designer Amina Muaddi sees her crystal slingback and
strappy sandals lifting women up. “I think sometimes
we need it for our morale,” she says. “I recently had an event in-store
with one of my retail partners and all my clients came wearing my shoes,
looking glamorous and feeling confident, and I loved that.”
Bienen-Davis, an American brand of heirloom minaudières that was
founded in 1931 but closed in the 1970s, has just been revived by its
fourth-generation guardian Richard Bienen. Creative director Meredith
German sees making an effort and looking the part as a form of
expression. “Dressing up is a style that tells people who you are at first
sight,” she says. Their top-handle Régine bag, named after doyenne of
nightlife Régine Zylberberg and self-dubbed Queen of the Night, comes
in luxurious calfskin, with metal dipped in 24-karat gold. If a bag can
represent an individual, who doesn’t want to put forward their best,
24-karat plated selves?
And while whimsical feather puff-ball dresses and precious metal
clutches don’t come cheap, the current market shows that there is
serious mileage in dressing with a luxurious over-the-
top bent. Jenny Child (née Cermak), is partner at
McKinsey and Company, whose annual report on the
state of fashion, produced in conjunction with the
Business of Fashion, indicated the segment that
experienced the most growth for the financial year
2018–19 was luxury. This was over all other categories,
including affordable, mid-market and premium and
bridge segments. What’s more, Child doesn’t see
it slowing.
“Much of the luxury segment’s growth will continue
to be fuelled by fast-growing Asia-Pacific economies
and the continuing boom in global travel,” she says
pointing to China, which although slowing is still a leading luxury
market, and India, whose middle class is ever-growing. She notes that
in China, young people invest in luxury pieces as a way “to convey and
enjoy a shared social experience”.
All this – beautiful clothes of supreme quality with an irreverent
flair – converges with dressing up to go out, a sentiment shared by
Piccioli, who spoke of a desire to bring people together. “I mean
something different from ‘lifestyle’, which is about owning objects. It’s
about people who share values,” he toldVogue Runway. When we
commune, at bars, at restaurants, dressed-up for one another,
respecting the occasion, appreciating the effort each other has put in,
to be there, and dress smartly; isn’t this what it is all about? Dossena
put it best when he said his brand of evening glamour was about “how
you uplift yourself through dress”. Bring in the sequins, banish the
#FOMO. You won’t have anything to fear if you just head out. ■
PRADA A/W ’19/’20
BALENCIAGA A/W ’19/’20
