Fashion history can be seen as evolving in a very linear manner. Eclectic 80’s style gave way to rave and party fashion of the 90’s, near the millennium resulting in a cleaner aesthetic finally exploding in the “everything goes” of the 2000 era. Yet why should we mystify our sense of time when it is clear that nothing waits as everything is erupting? All meaning has always been unstable as long as human beings learned to read and fantasize about being someone other than himself or herself. Or rather began questioning which forces exactly held them accountable for performing a certain societal role.

We interject meaning in fashion garments. Information is a much bigger currency today than money. We search for it, we brag with it, we modify it, we use it to our advantage and also disadvantage. Information or rather the quest for it is always setting our place in the construct that is reality. Yet when all seems accessible, the question what seems to be hidden is of urgent importance. If we believe the naysayers who say we hide in our fashionable clothes, who or what legitimizes their populist opinion? And what exactly is the role of hiding in modern society? Is fashion the modern cave for global citizens who when confronted with fire hide in their Vetements rain coat? As it becomes increasingly clear each day, when dealing with opinions rather than facts, statement is not an argument. Those who are loudest are the ones hiding the truth.

Fashion is the vehicle through which we drive through the powers that define today. Let’s make it clear – we are not making it easier for ourselves. Social media is booming with news stories (all fictionalized to some degree, no matter the source or content) on the one hand and fashion choices on the other. In a world where social media imposes us as major news outlet editors, we seem to find that world catastrophes go hand in hand with fashion outfits. When we are given the power to change, we rather go search for fun. Rather than see fashion a cultural force we see it as money transformed into cotton.

When change (social, economic, and cultural) is the only constant in our lives, fashion is the clear indicator of our own understanding of the world. More than ever all ancient fashion archetypes are in their own process of redefining. What is classic? What is retro? What is formal? What is casual? Who cares? Why should we care? All is in search of new meaning and rather than setting an individual’s place in society, they show us how we need to see them as enablers who help us understand the complexities of modern day and society. The pantsuit travels the distance between the bourgeoisie and the rebel and helps us see the irony of today’s world. Forget subversion, as that word has no place in 2016. Fashion today subverts nothing – as it rather fetishizes, mystifies and objectifies meanings they once had. Yes, we are a culture that is too sensitive and cannot understand a joke to save its life. Yet we are also a culture, which is confronting historical constructs and trying to make peace with it. That is the starting point through which a garment truly becomes powerful once again. Yet who can handle all the power?  

The pantsuit is dead. Long live pantsuits.