If you re a teenager now, and fall into what is theoretically Topshop s prime demographic, then the eighties and early nineties were either before you were born, or you were too young to remember anything about them. Well, here s the news: That era was the last time anyone in fashion design seems to recall as being about really good, do-it-yourself creative fun, and this season, the Topshop Unique team, like everyone else, is determined to feed it all back to a new generation to cheer things up.
Jacqui Markham, who designs the range with Karen Bonser at Topshop s HQ off Oxford Street, says that when it came time to compile mood boards, "we were coming up with images of grunge and sci-fi and New Age travelers, which is why we ended up with this mix of spaceship prints and patterns taken from crop circles. A lot of it, like the hair with ribboned braid, the sweat suits, and the glow sticks, came from rave culture, too. Though we didn t want to be literal about it."
The show hit on all the trends that have emerged in the "senior" designer collections so far this season: a bit of intergalactic futurism in the shape of metallic leather tunics and bodysuits, mixed up with oversize eighties coat shapes with giant lapels, and some great sequined sweatpants and cowl-hooded sweatshirts. The really smart thing is how each look is so layered in tempting spending opportunities, from the giant knitted comfort-blanket scarves to the squiggle-printed leggings to the glow-in-the-dark Perspex necklaces and handbag hardware right down to the glitter socks. It will all arrive in Topshop s new New York flagship in September, in time to happy things up for young consumers. Who s to say, though, that they won t have started their own movement by then? Creativity always comes out in adversity—which is exactly why the fashion behind the current nostalgia wave happened in the first place. It isn t all doom and gloom, then, after all: Sooner or later, the kids will have their own say.
