The Fashion Business‘[Fashion] has decreed a massive swing away from easy, throwaway fashion
to divisive, elitist, luxury.’^1
In this chapter I want therefore to unpick both the precedents of 1990s
minimalist fashion, as well as questioning its deceptively simple style. It may
appear to be an innocently easy way to dress, but as ever in fashion there is
a web of contradictory meanings attached to its streamlined exterior.
Tyler Brûlé, the editor of Wallpaper magazine, wrote in an article entitled
‘It’s smart to be simple’ in the Independent on Sunday in 1996 of the growing
trend towards ‘downsizing’, ‘voluntary simplicity’, ‘beyond basics’.^2 He felt
the roots of this shift were on the West Coast of America, where it had become
increasingly fashionable to discard unnecessary elements of your life, casting
off excess in both possessions and lifestyle, and, influenced by both the
economic impact of the recession, and the moral imperative to avoid
extravagant display, lead a simpler existence. The term ‘minimalism’ was
understandably appealing. He cited both the Chic Simple collection of books,
and a Seattle newsletter Simple Living, as examples of this apparent emphasis
on scaling down of both wardrobe and home. So powerful has this move
been that even designers like Dolce e Gabbana, who are not usually known
for their love of restraint, used advertising in their Autumn/Winter 1998/99
menswear campaign that evoked a simple, rustic lifestyle. A male model clad
in a pale polo neck sweater and contrasting dark trousers and jacket stared
out at the viewer from a blank, white interior; on the other side of the double
page spread was a still life adding detail to this scene. On a rough wooden
table a collection of simple bowls and eating utensils, a loaf of bread, fresh
fish and olives were displayed. They spoke of a rural Italian lifestyle, a simple,
honest and healthy existence, unhampered by the pressures of the city, the
constant drive of commercialism. Minimalism had become a lifestyle that
could be sold on this very contradiction: it seemed to offer an escape from
constant consuming, from the confusion and violence of contemporary society
and yet, ironically, as Tyler Brûlé pointed out, this frequently involved buying
more.
Another element in the shift by many fashion designers towards this
restrained style, is the rejection of overt display that had been seen as
characterizing the 1980s. The glittering excess of designers like Gianni Versace
was felt by some to be too vulgar, too brash for the intelligent consumer. His
eveningwear was cut to slip around the body, revealing the figure to the
eager eye of the tabloid press. Its extravagance attracted celebrities, keen to
be turned into curvaceous femme fatales. However those who sought the
- Rumbold, J. ‘Cashmere’,Observer, Life Section, 1998, p. 62.
- Brûlé, T., ‘It’s Smart to be Simple’,Independent on Sunday, Real Life Section,1996, p. 7.