The End

Dior, F 2011

The end. Fashion secretly loves it when something comes to a conclusion, because endings, and only endings, mean something new is on its way. This season's fashion circuit is now over and the new is already old. But there is a larger ending that has happened in the past year, the turn of a decade. The transition began with the death of McQueen, followed by the departure of Carine Roitfeld and now Galliano, with Decarnin at Balmain also in a failing state. Fashion is entering a new era and it is not always for the better, but always for the new.

At Dior, reform will mean new life. For Alexander McQueen, Sarah Burton has brought more wearable designs that keep the dream alive but also the corporation.

McQueen, F 2011

Hermès, F 2011

Fashion loves endings but it is never finished. The system of fashion is an endless addendum. I previously posted on the recurrent event of fashion week. It is the ultimate "All for Nothing," aiming for the highest dream, then over in an instant. This is a great love affair, acted out by thousands, giving everything over to a few weeks with no real commitments, and with the expectation that there will be another next best thing in just a few months. It could be argued that fashion is art on speed, quickly achieving creative aims and so amped it does not remember what it just made. But it could also be argued that fashion is art's ultimate form, the enactment of creativity made complete by entering the real world. Fashion works through the aesthetic landscape, through individuals and social groups, becoming part of the collective consciousness. While clothing is what we wear, fashion is what we enact and become; it is the vibrant expression of human renewal. For this reason, we can clearly never get enough.

Gucci, F 2011