Manolo says, one of the Manolo’s many internet friends has taken the exception with the Manolo charaterization of the Vivienne Westwood as a fool.
“…one of these two designers she knows the fashion, and she is serious about it. The other she is the fool. Of this, there is no doubt.”
Uh, I don’t think so. Neither is a fool; but if one designer is conservative, it is Prada. And conservatism in fashion = boring. Sure, you look posh, but you still look normal. It’s called ‘nice/posh normal’, and it doesn’t take a fashion brain to put on. Vivienne Westwood breaks boundaries and is a genius with fabric. If you think she sucks, then I suggest you adjust your taste to suit. It’s the difference between Galliano (VERY nice AND different) and McQueen (very nice but still fundamentally boring) (try comparing spring summer men for both lines and note the more ingenious one), between DKNY (BORING) and Yohji Yamamoto (genius), between Raf Simons and Commes DG, between Margiela and Marc Jacobs. The last two comparisons I leave as an exercise to the sartorially astute reader.
If conservative = great fashion to you then I respectfully suggest that you a. lack imagination and b. are boring.
These are two different spectrums of fashion. One staid and stale, nothing new, nor original (I wouldn’t take a second look at you on the street); the other cutting edge (but not in the clownish or freakish way you suggest). Westwood has been doing this for years, and feted for it. Probably no serious fashion student in say, Central St Martins, will place Miuccia Prada ahead of VW in the fashion stakes. Nor do trendsetting style magazines like i-D.
And no, I’m not a fashion student, nor in the industry.
Think about it.
Manolo says, indeed the Manolo he has thought about it. First, he will reply by posting again the picture of the Vivenne Westwood’s lastest fashion for the man.
Manolo says, the friend of the Manolo she seems to have misunderstood the difference between looking good and calling attention to one’s self.
The Vivienne Westwood, she has long specialized in the fashion for the adolescent who cries out for the attention. The perfect look for the angst-ridden, rebellious teenager, but not the look for the serious adult. The grown up peoples they require the grown up clothes.
Do not denigrate the importance of looking “normal”. Fashion it is about looking good, not seeking out the look of the abnormal, or the outre, or the purposely ridiculous.
Manolo says, the true radical in the serious well-cut, well-tailored clothes is the one whose thoughts, talents, and actions will change the world. The attention-seeking adolescent in the motley clothes of the fool, this person is merely the comedic sideshow.