by Trends? Fashion designers have dictated a few. But in a business based on ever-changing style, one of the smartest things you can do is to have a style that barely changes. And probably why most uniform designers, and adhere to it as devoutly as a priest.
While some like to walk, talk as ambassadors for their own brand, others prefer not to draw attention away from their work. As a new auction at Christie’s reminds us, Vivienne Westwood fell firmly into the former camp. In June, the auction house will sell rare items from the Derbyshire-born designer’s personal wardrobe, a treasure trove of more than 200 items spanning four decades, to raise money for her favorite charities.
“She was the ultimate thoughtful nonconformist, and this came through in her designs, as well as her activism,” says Adrian Hume-Sayer, director at Christie’s and head of sales. “Looking at the themes of her collections, from Popaganda to the Climate Revolution, she practiced what she was saying. Her wide range of clothes reflects her interests.
Her inspirations ranged from 18th century French painting to the climate crisis. Her wardrobe is very much a reflection of her and her thoughts.”
Indeed it is, because if anyone dressed in homage to her own ideals and design philosophies, it was Westwood, a woman who thought nothing of taking on the late Queen, and whose flaming orange hair was so equally important in his 80s. as in his younger years.
Westwood’s wardrobe made her an icon, instantly recognizable to the public. Here’s what other designer uniforms might reveal – or hide – about them too…
Karl Lagerfeld
Lagerfeld’s black tuxedo jacket, white shirt and black skinny jeans, worn with ubiquitous sunglasses and black leather gloves, was arguably one of the most distinctive fashion outfits of all time. Meanwhile his most enduring trademarks were his fans and his gray ponies. Lagerfeld described his uniform as “a mask. And for me, the Venice Carnival lasts all year.” Like Andy Warhol, his only business was a caricature of himself. It was a trademark, and that trademark was Chanel – via Roy Orbison and an 18th century couturier.
Miuccia Prada
Most 74-year-olds would stop wearing A-line skirts and ankle socks, but not most 74-year-old Miuccia Prada – a designer so effortlessly chic that she only took off last month American coverage. Vogue. If you’ve ever wondered why any middle-aged women of your acquaintances are wearing Alice bands, heavy drop earrings, oversized pins or slingbacks with kitten heels, it’s probably because they were inspired by the Prada show, or by Mrs. Prada. They are the same.
Pharrell Williams
The American record producer, singer, songwriter and fashion designer is one of the few modern celebrities who truly deserves to be called a multi-hyphenate. You have to be a genius to write a song as catchy as 2014’s Happy: a hit record is much more difficult to make than a prestigious fashion show, and Williams is dressed in a bright silver fluidity that reflects his busy, inquisitive, polymath mind. Described by Esquire as “the best man in the world”, he is currently bringing his own hip hop style to Louis Vuitton menswear. How does Williams dress? Like a Louche member of the billionaire boys club – at the same time, the name of his first label.
Donatella Versace
There are many wonderful things about Donatella Versace, but the best of all is that she is so determined, unapologetic, so glamorously Italian, with a “molto sexy” personal style that never fades, no matter how complicated or androgynous of the trend cycle. Like Calabrian Bet Lynch, no pencil skirt is too tight, no stiletto too high to face her as she tucks in her cowl. Aesthetic is the wife of the crowd? She invented it. But Donatella is not just any wife: she is the crowd, a self-made survivor who always does things her way.
Phoebe Philo
PhDs were probably all written about London-born Philo’s personal style, which not only spawned his own following (if Taylor has Swifties, Phoebe has her Philophiles), but laid out the blueprint for to her female colleagues while raising their own. bows (paging Victoria Beckham). Famously Jesuitical, you won’t see Philo in a bright color or garish print: it’s a white shirt worn under a navy jumper worn with loose tailored trousers all the way, finished with whatever trainers you’ll be wearing in six months. later.
Hedi Slimane
If the venerable French designer ever wore a baggy jean, we still don’t know. Few male designers’ personal styles have been recreated as faithfully in their own collections. As creative director of Dior Homme between 2000 and 2007, he made black skinny jeans, slim fitting suits and slim leather jackets cultural items among men of a certain age, as well as men too big to wear them (Karl Lagerfeld famously said six weights.specifically to fit into Slimane’s designs). Since then, Slimane has led Yves Saint Laurent and Celine, always bringing his distinctive personal style with him. How to describe it? The “smoking love child of Lou Reed and Keith Richards” works.
Alessandro Michele
At Gucci, he coined the “sexy librarian”, making geeky accessories like choker glasses and yellow tights. At Valentino, where he is now creative director, the jury is out on what the Rome-based Italian will reveal. What we do know is that it won’t involve minimalism. It’s more for Michele: if he was a musician, he would be Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoatthanks to his love of wearing rich brocades, bold prints and lurid colors.
The Olsen Twins
The Olsen twins are clearly two separate people. But are they? Have you ever seen them together in the same room? I’m kidding – though Mary-Kate and Ashley are so obscure that it’s been ages since anyone’s seen them at any kind of public event. Launched in 2006, his fiendishly expensive label, The Row, the first and last word in “quiet luxury”: breathless acolytes like to describe it as “effortless”, “artistic” and “uncluttered”. Like The Row, the Olsens’ personal style is a product of what happens when you spend your early years as a child actor on Full House, forced to wear gingham pinafores and cute white socks with ruffles. It screams “no one will ever take the ps off me again”.
Giorgio Armani
He may have been called the “king of blazers”, but Mr. Armani’s own catwalk look is a serious case of “no jacket”. Now 89, the Italian legend always takes his bow in a simple navy crew-neck sweater, navy trousers and brilliant white tennis shoes – a classic, uncluttered look that reflects his design philosophy. “Fashion is about trends – style is about more eternal qualities,” he said. “Consistency of approach is the essence of good design.” And probably the consistency of your own look – which in Armani’s case is best described as “what Dickie Greenleaf would wear, if he lived to be 90”.
