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Written by Jane Stabler
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What is it about fashion and the romanticism of death. It's the whole idea of 'die young and have a beautiful corpse'. Macabre? Interesting? Or just plain weird? We think girls look much prettier when they look alive! Jane delves into what it is about about death that seems so fascinating to designers.
On my way to breakfast the other morning I moseyed past the Hermes window in Sydney and was fairly taken aback at what I saw. I’m all for avant garde displays when it comes to fashion, but this one came complete with a nice array of taxidermy and a skeleton performing a science experiment. It was a little much at 7am, although to be honest I’m not sure if I would have felt about it later in the day, especially as after telling one of my friends about it, he messaged me when he happened upon it and was equally confused and appalled. The whole thing made me wonder, what have death and fashion actually got to do with each other?
This little quandary plagued me as I started to recall fashion shoots whereby designers propped their models about as dead bodies, and other fashion ads have used murder scenes as the basis of their creative. Death and fashion, it’s an interesting link. Of course almost every time this pairing occurs, people are up in arms and ads have to be pulled, executions (maybe that was a bad choice of word…) changed and the whole thing made to go away. And yet it still keeps creeping back.
I wonder if the idea behind it is about being fashionable ‘til death do us part? For me that makes sense. I don’t know how many times I’ve passed a group of older ladies and said to my friends, “If I start thinking it’s okay to dress like that, beat me with a Manolo until I change my mind.” I don’t think it’s unreasonable to want to stay stylish until your time comes to an end. Maybe that’s the link.
Another possibility is illustrated through a hair-raising work trip I recently had to endure. In the not so distant past, I was required to represent my company at an induction workshop for new employees. I was also required to wear the completely unflattering corporate uniform, which on every other day I manage to avoid. And as my assistant, who is possibly the world’s worst driver, bashed her way along precariously narrow country roads to get to the location for this presentation, I said “I cannot die today; this cannot be the last thing I ever wear.”
Maybe that’s the link. Whilst others say ‘live every day as if it were your last,” and I wholeheartedly agree with that theory, I also say ‘dress as if every day were your last.’ Lord knows most people don’t want to die, but if I have to do down, I can at least do it in a fabulous outfit.
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