Earlier this month, the historical fashion houses of Lanvin and Céline debuted their spring ready-to-wear designs. Featuring a variety of thematic imagery, they share an interesting strain of symbology: the strong, dynamic inclusion of a powerful, modern, and urbane form.
This figure gained notoriety in the early eighties, with the introduction of the yuppie. Commentator Victor Davis Hanson describes this person as:
“[…] a late-20th century cultural phenomenon of self-absorbed young professionals, earning good pay, enjoying the cultural attractions of sophisticated urban life and thought, and generally out of touch with, indeed antithetical to, most of the challenges and concerns of a far less well-off and more parochial Middle America.”
Literarily, the idea of this archetype (notably the immorality, hedonism, and indifference) was quite documented by a number of writers in the eighties. Authors Jay McInerney and Bret Easton Ellis frequently dominated best-sellers lists with novels focusing on fictional characters that lead high-powered jobs and do lots… lots of cocaine. That being said, the mentality of these characters seem to influence the modern concept of a stylish, urban individual.
The idea of escaping city-restraints was on Phoebe Philo’s mind when designing the Céline spring collection. With the thought of urbanity still resonant, every step of those tooled-leather flats fleetingly decreases this. The strong, emphatic shoulders and overall looseness of design cinched shortly through the stomach are indicative of eighties reference. Could Philo’s city escape reminisce the introduction of the dynamic woman-in-the-workforce mentality of the eighties; that is, the belief that a strong woman must kick ass at her job while simultaneously handling home stressors, often in the same mode of dress? (insert baby formula spill on one of these Céline skirts right… here) One can’t be sure, but Philo does have three young children and commands a fashion house conglomerated by LVMH, a luxury goods company that saw an 18% revenue increase within the first nine months of 2015. So…
Lanvin creative director Alber Elbaz spoke of the struggles when dealing with the digital age, and relayed to Vogue critic Sarah Mower his need, “to show all-encompassing extremes, and […] leave evidence of his work in progress.” Overall shape and design, the fullness of sleeves, shoulders, and draping saturate the idea of the eighties working woman. However, the focused extremity Elbaz featured demonstrates a hedonism additionally evident in the works of McInerney and Ellis. The use of a lamé-style sheen, graphic, tongue-in-cheek prints and dramatic, youthful frills exude a sense of indulgence and questionable frivolity.
A digital influence was strongly evident in the eighties, most notably among those who could afford the various wares and as well as those in industries featuring a digital focus. While Lanvin demonstrates the idea of excess as a result of the digital age, it was evident prior. Perhaps extraordinary demonstration results from the digital revolution, and has grown to it’s apex within this digital age.
UPDATE: In keeping with the influence of technology, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced its theme for the next gala: “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology.
References
Berrington, Katie. “Phoebe Philo.” Vogue UK. Condé Nast, 11 May 2011. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.
Mower, Sarah. “Spring Ready-to-Wear: Lanvin.” Rev. of Lanvin. Vogue 1 Oct. 2015: n. pag. Vogue. Condé Nast, 1 Oct. 2015. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.
LVMH. 18% Increase in Revenue for the First Nine Months of 2015. LVMH. LVMH, 12 Oct. 2015. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.
Victor Davis Hanson (August 13, 2010). “Obama: Fighting the Yuppie Factor”. National Review. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
Wyatt, Edward. “Bret Easton Ellis: The Man in the Mirror.” The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 7 Aug. 2005. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.
Title Pictorial References (left to right)
Detail of original Story of My Life book cover: Vintage Books, New York
Detail of original Bright Lights, Big City book-cover: Vintage Books, New York
Detail of original Less Than Zero book-cover: Simon & Schuster
Detail of original American Psycho book-cover: Vintage Books, New York
Image of Lanvin runway: Gianni Pucci / Indigitalimages.com
Livre de la Mode 
Once again, I take so much pleasure reading your commentary. It’s at the same time a review of the collections with in-depth information in a matter of phrases. I don’t know how you manage to do it, especially with all those references that you go through. Normally, one begs brevity out of an essay but with you I wouldn’t mind reading a bit more 🙂
I had no idea what yuppies were and I googled it before reading the article only to see you explain it 🙂 I haven’t liked Celine’s collections since quite a while now, and had you not pointed out that Philo is a mother (and assuming she wears Céline to work 🙂 ) I would have found it difficult seeing how the 80s yuppies influence her 2016 designs. But then again I’m not a fashion expert/connoisseur/scholar (merely a hobbyist).
On the other hand, Elbaz never seizes to impress me. The prints are what my conventional eyes objected to, only to read your tying them to the 80s references. Additionally, you bring in the digital influence of the 80s. Yes! Absolutely. I probably wouldn’t call it digital -for that time period- but the presence of “technology” on the runways was always left, right? It’s the posting of 80s fashion collection on Youtube that struck me to the similarities between a lot of our age’s obsession with technology and the 80s (which wasn’t so present in the 90s fashion world, am I correct?)
I’d like to communicate with you separately by email, so I’ll leave my email address in the following comment and you can delete it, after sending me a blank email (or filled 🙂 ), but such exchanges are an absolute pleasure to me.
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