Mutated bibs, saddle belts and asymmetrical capes with buckles: strange categories are emerging in fashion
Source: Sportmax
“Serena has one foot in the final”, was the headline of “Bild”, and that meant her sporting success at the start of the Australian Open only in a secondary sense.
Because, if you look at the photo, you can only ask yourself what this tennis star's garment is all about, which is leggings on the one hand, cycling shorts on the other, but also catsuit at the same time.
It was specially made because of her thrombosis, some speculate that it was just a fashion freak, others.
We now know that the latter is true: Williams was inspired by sprinter Florence Griffith-Joyner, who died in 1998.
“She kept changing her style and her outfits were amazing.
We started with that, ”said Williams in an interview after the game.
"Of course we changed a few details, but that was the result."
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Also likes to use the tennis court as a catwalk: Williams in a full body suit with one short and one long pant leg
Source: Getty Images / Cameron Spencer
What happens when you cross different clothing categories, remove essential features and add others, alienate elements or completely reinvent entire fabric creations, has been commonly associated with haute couture.
Fittingly, the latest creations have just been presented in digital Paris, which of course are only allowed to adorn themselves with this exclusive label because they are made by hand.
We see robes at Iris von Herpen's, whose sleeves flow down like a waterfall and only get out of hand at knee level.
Kim Jones cuts the blazer in half vertically at Fendi or adds a breathtaking train, Dior blows up sleeves like a trumpet.
Experimental designs are actually only known from haute couture, here from Christian Dior's current collection
Source: Dior
This is how Haute Couture is naturally: dramatic, extravagantly silhouetted, sometimes deconstructed almost like a caricature.
That is why the category usually speaks of creations or designs, and not just clothing.
So far, these creations had their justification on the catwalk, but so much drama doesn't really sell on the tennis court or in the mid-range segments.
Perhaps it is because athleisurewear is being inflated to such an extent, perhaps because, with all the stagnation that the pandemic is currently causing us, we long for change and progress: In any case, normal clothing has recently started to look unusually artificial.
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High street giants, of all people, are particularly daring to do this - with items of clothing that have never been seen before and that no longer fit into any classic category.
At Arket, for example, there is a woolly something hanging on the bar, which is not an independent item of clothing, but rather an accessory in the form of a tank top with open sides and turtleneck, which was probably only invented to be thrown over another item of clothing to become.
It remains unclear whether it should rather warm or decorate - as well as which term you can use to search for it in the Google shopping search.
Arket himself calls it a sweater bib in the online shop.
Something between a scarf, a throw and a turtleneck: sweater-bib by Arket
Source: Arket
The other H&M offshoot Cos, which is actually known for its extreme minimalism, was inspired in a similar way by the bib and crossed it with a necklace aka top, which consists of a mesh construction with decorative stones and is held together with a bow at the neck.
Jewelery or garment?
Bib necklace by Cos
Source: COS
Cédelar, a label that is suggested to you in the Instagram feed if you have subscribed to labels like Arket or Cos, separates one half of a long-sleeved blouse diagonally and inserts a buckle in the hip area so as not to reveal more skin, but one blouse worn underneath.
With a sleeve-turtleneck construction, on the other hand, you can freely present your cleavage - or even wear your summer wardrobe in winter without freezing.
Cape with buckle by Cèdelar
Source: Cédelar
Exalted, but at the same time practical: turtleneck sleeves
Source: Cédelar
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Sportmax, the young second line from Max Mara, has always stood for experimental fashion that always refers to classics.
Here, the latest collections have implemented at a high level, which at first glance could also be a trend mood among high street giants and would be far too trivial and wearable for haute couture: hybrids, consisting of asymmetrical dresses and attached vests, of tops and under vests, as we know them from fencing, as well as belts that are reminiscent of saddles and are currently still under the "other accessories" category in the online shop.
Crossed dress with vest: by Sportmax
Source: Sportmax
Not belly swaps, not just belts
Source: Sportmax
Marine Serre's face masks, which the French label sent down the catwalk in the usual dystopian manner, should also have been classified under this arbitrary category in October 2019.
Originally out of the idea of drawing attention to climate change.
Today, every well-stocked online shop is guaranteed to have its own section for this - for well-known other reasons.
If, in times of upheaval, conventional systems are called into question, then, it seems, things are also being reorganized in fashion.
Proportions are distorted, aesthetic principles are defined differently, strange categories are still emerging.
And so one can possibly hope that the current triumph of leggings and all the mutated bibs and other hybrids that are currently blooming in a strange way are just a preliminary step towards something completely new.