Balenciaga, fall 2020 ready-to-wear; Joan Crawford in Adrian, 1946.Photos: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com; Bettman via Getty Images
The social distancing orders don’t preclude time traveling, so it’s an activity I continue to enjoy these days. My visits are frequent and often brief; what motivates me is trying to understand why things resurface when they do. We saw lots of Madame Grès references in the fall collections, for example. Times of turmoil often arouse interest in the neoclassical, which can be explained as a desire to clasp on to ideals that seem as solid and unchanging as statues from antiquity.
In addition to trend tracking, there’s also the pure joy of drawing visual comparisons between now and then. Though not an exact science, these side-by-sides might give us clues about the intangible currents that are shaping the future. Consider this: The square shapes at Balenciaga can be seen as a nod to Martin Margiela’s “flat pack” collection of spring 1998 and to the exaggerated, borrowed-from-the-boys shoulders of the 1940s that symbolized strength in a troubled era.
The prewar period of the 1930s seems especially salient right now. That was the era of Surrealism—and, boy, do things seem out of this world today—and also of clothing that followed the line of the body. Sliplike dresses, many cut on the bias, à la Madeleine Vionnet, were poured like liquid over the body at Rodarte, among other places. Going the opposite direction were designers like Alessandro Michele at Gucci and Area’s Piotrek Panszczyk and Beckett Fogg, whose designs took on the exaggerated shapes once created with farthingales, hoops, and crinolines.
Scroll to see how fashions went full circle for fall.
Portrait of Anne Vavasour, attributed to John de Critz, c. 1605.Photo: Hulton Archive / Getty Images
Area, fall 2020 ready-to-wear
Photo: Courtesy of Area
Hoop dressing, circa 1860. Photo: London Stereoscopic Company / Getty Images
Christopher John Rogers, fall 2020 ready-to-wear
Photo: Daniele Oberrauch / Gorunway.com
Pearly Kings.Photo: Keystone-France / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Richard Quinn, fall 2020 ready-to-wear
Photo: Carlo Scarpato / Gorunway.com
Jacqueline Kennedy, 1963.Photo: Bettmann via Getty Images
Marc Jacobs, fall 2020 ready-to-wear
Photo: Filippo Fior / Gorunway.com
Joan Crawford in an Adrian design in Humoresque (1946). Photo: Bettmann via Getty Images
Balenciaga, fall 2020 ready-to-wear
Photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com
Françoise Hardy in Yves Saint Laurent, 1970.Photographed by Arnaud de Rosnay, Vogue, August 1, 1970
Celine, fall 2020 ready-to-wear
Photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com
Nike, Goddess of Victory. Photo: Universal History Archive / Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Rick Owens, fall 2020 ready-to-wear
Photo: Isidore Montag / Gorunway.com
A Vionnet dress, 1935.Photo: Lipnitzki / Roger Viollet Collection / Getty Images
Richard Malone, fall 2020 ready-to-wear
Photo: Carlo Scarpato / Gorunway.com
Jean Harlow in costume by Adrian for Reckless (1935). Photo: Margaret Chute / Getty Images
Brandon Maxwell, fall 2020 ready-to-wear
Photo: GoRunway.com
A visiting dress drawn by Madame Esperi, 1895. Photo: DEA / Biblioteca Ambrosiana via Getty Images
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