"Anti-fashion"

The Anti-fashion movement has always somewhat perplexed me. I tend to file it in the disdainful section of my brain that also houses vegetarian sausages, alcohol-free beer and the phrase "have your cake and eat it".


I just don't understand these things and why they exist so I choose to file them away in a dusty corner of my cranium and pretend I don't have to deal with them. I do however live with a sporadic vegetarian, work in a bar and have excess weight due to cake consumption followed by empty plate despair; as such it's probably about time that I tackle these demons. 


Anti-fashion according to wikipedia.org:
Anti-fashion is an umbrella term for various styles of dress which are explicitly contrary to the fashion of the day. Anti-fashion styles may represent an attitude of indifference or may arise from political or practical goals which make fashion a secondary priority. The term is sometimes even used for styles championed by high profile designers, when they encourage or create trends that don't follow the mainstream fashion of the time.


This helps with my confusion a little but I still struggle to comprehend fashion shows that display the Anti-fashion. At what point does one switch from one to the other?


 Chanel is one of the most recognisable fashion brands in the world. A person who wears Chanel (convincingly) is widely regarded as a highly fashionable person. However according to Elizabeth Wilson, Chanel's style was described as "anti-fashion" by Cecil Beaton with her look being called "nihilistic".

From what I've gathered about Gabrielle Chanel, I think she would be pretty stoked with her clothing being
 regarded as mainstream (if exclusive) fashion. Chanel was about practicality and her own vision  of how a 
woman should look and dress and clearly is it possibly to move from the Anti-fashion umbrella into a world 
of haute couture and style celebration.

One of the biggest Anti-fashion movements is Punk. For me it immediately springs to mind as soon as
Anti-fashion is mentioned. How bitter must the original punks be when they see little teenage-avril lavinge-
types dressed up in tutus, doc martins and tartan?! I know I'd be bitter. The rebellion is gone, the sentiment
twisted into over-sexed commercialism. The philosophy of Punk shall be a topic for another day but it 
brings me nicely onto a hero of mine, Vivianne Westwood. For those who don't know Vivianne's history 
it is important to note that in the 1970s she, along with Malcolm McLaren, her husband and manager of the
 Sex Pistols, opened a boutique fashion store in London called Sex. The Sex Pistols wore clothing from
the store and it flourished, going against the anti-materialistic nature of the punk movement. I guess it's like
any anti-commercialist movement- it's only a matter of time before someone starts making a profit. (Che 
Guevara T-shirts being the ironic example I shake my head at most.) But getting back to Anti-fashion, 
when googling Westwood I saw that on many sites her clothing was still described as Anti-fashion 
(despite her success as one of the world's most successful designers). And her clothing doesfit the 
wikipedia definition, it is often contrary to the fashion of the day/today. So Westwood creates 
Anti-fashion fashion..... my brain hurts.

I just want to screw up everything - Vivienne Westwood

 Well Vivienne, you've screwed up my brain. I think my problem with comprehending this topic is my black and white view of the world and it's time to accept that Anti-fashion can be fashion.... it hurts just to type that. I feel like it's a concept that I can see and keep trying to grasp it but slips between my fingertips.
It's like non-stick glue, it shouldn't exist?! So I think I shall have to put it down to a nuance of the english language, fashion has far too many meanings. Can we rename Anti-fashion as Anti-mode? Ok this new
naming business is easing the stress on my brain.

Here's my new definition, one that will help me think about anti-fashion in the future:
"Anti-mode is a style of fashion that goes against the most popular trends and conventions of the time."

Hmmm... still not overly convinced... I think Chanel and Westwood would laugh at me and feel smug.