Wednesday 2 February 2011

when i was just a little girl...

When you are wrapped in deep, unassuming love it is natural to engage in romantic reflections such as calling to mind that particular moment in time when the adoration began to grow. 

Whenever i read interviews in fashion magazines, the most regular question to arise is, "When was your first fashion moment". The response is a common and consistent, mildly whimsical personal memory that goes along the lines of , "I was just a young girl watching my mother change. I remember the sweet musk of her old perfume softly embracing me and as she slipped on her dress, i saw how she assumed the personality of the garment and, from then on, i appreciated how clothes could make a woman feel blah blah blah"

For me, recalling "my first fashion moment" was less gentle, facile and in no way as fantastical, in fact it was a grand effort. Of course, now i adore fashion and our relationship has been one of the greatest successes of my life but i was struggling to remember the "once upon a time" beginning of the story.

However, yesterday not-quite-morning, as i scrolled obsessively through the boundless ocean that we call "the internet", i came across this picture which jolted millions of electrifying memories and incited my retrospective "eureka" squeal..



At a first glance, bound by naivity and innocent ignorance, you would assume that this lady has taken the "just rolled out of bed" look slightly too far with her pillow stapled to the back of her head. However, if you were to immerse yourself in a pointless mission of researching the last six years of fashion, you may discover that this picture is taken from Viktor&Rolf's 2005 rtw fall collection. 

So without any further ado, i present "my first fashion moment by lana richardson" With this image, i was struck with the consuming realisation that this was the first collection to meet my high-fashion-virginal eyeballs. Before this moment, designer fashion to me was synonymous with fake gucci glasses sold by intimidatingly perverted men at market stalls but in this instant, my previous assumption was adjusted with a vision of art.

This image moved towards my impressionable mind to conceive and create a love to end all loves. From this moment i knew what fashion could be; an art form unlike any other, one which is thematic, satirical, conceptual and ever changing. As clothes upon an individual, the art form becomes a flawlessly personal and expressive portrait of emotions both grossly apparent and hidden in discomfort. For me, my first fashion moment was the epic discovery that clothes can go further beyond the aesthetic than even imaginable.


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