Kate Moss and Amber Valletta strutted the catwalk at Milan's fashion week once again, this time headlining the collab between Versace and Fendi - Fendace. The 90s supermodels, now almost in their 50s, runway moment, was praised by the press and labeled by the social media chatter as iconic. Indeed, middle-aged and young models' cast mix seems to showcase a historical shift in beauty and age perception in an industry famous for promoting specific standards. But it also points out a fascinating and disturbing end of a cycle, and perhaps of an era.
Fashion - and haute couture - haven't always been pop. In the 90s, when supermodels became a global phenomenon, fashion became "in fashion" like never before. Due to the increased availability of the Internet and satellite television outside the United States, plus the reduction of import tariffs, Fashion became more globalized and homogeneous in the late 1990s and early 2000s. But nothing helped to propel it to the global pop stardom than MTV and George Michael's Freedom 90 music video.
The music video, directed by David Fincher, featuring a star-studded casting of famous fashion models - Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, and Tatjana Patitz - became instantly part of pop culture. Overnight, the models' attitudes shifted people's perception, and being a model became synonymous with being smart and an entrepreneur. Linda Evangelista famously said then, "I don't get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day." Supermodels became money-making celebrities. But, more than that, their fame helped forge the look and beauty standards that women would follow for decades. Reflecting on the video in 2015, Crawford said that, at the time, they thought they were simply making "a really cool video." Still, in retrospect, the video marked a dramatic shift: MTV had altered the music industry so that physical beauty became then essential to sell music. That shift influenced not only pop music but culture and beauty playbooks for generations to come.
Fast forward to Fendace, when Moss and Valetta walked the runway together with veterans like Kristen McMenamy, Shalom Harlow, and Naomi Campbell, among other fresh and old-timer's faces. Fendi and Versace attempt to stay current with the collab trend and cash in on the global logomania, also echos the Versace's spring/summer 2018 show headlining the original Freedom 90 cast - minus Linda Evangelista – and the Spring 2020 show close with Jennifer Lopez wearing that dress.
It's fascinating watching Donatella Versace's 90s revisionist take on the heydays of Fashion while the world is now living another revisionist moment. And it is refreshing seeing two gorgeous mature models walking the runway– being still professionally active in an industry that not long ago was mainly made of teen girls glammed up to look like grown-up women. But there is also something profoundly disturbing watching them walking back and forth– piercing eyes, pouching lips, fierce attitude, and all– along the catwalk showcasing expensive garments that are unobtainable to most people.
Yeah, times have changed, but I'm wondering, are fashion shows still relevant?
Broadly, Fashion is a living representation of self-expression and of a period, place, and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. Unfortunately, the fashion industry is also one of the major polluting industries globally, massively contributing to the environmental collapse and its disrupting effects that we are experiencing today. Fashion is indeed a living snapshot of the world we are living in.
The fashion industry as we know has changed since the 90s, perhaps not enough to really catch up with the current time yet. Still, fashion shows, in particular, haven't aged as well as the Fendace’s supermodels. Looking at Amber and Kate on the runway wearing garments made of an explosion of Versace's roman themes and Fendi logo, to use an expression from the Fashion vernacular, looked passé.
Looking at them strutting the runway made me think that there's a fine line between revisiting, perhaps reshaping, history and trying to relive a glorious past.
Coming out and simultaneously still living a pandemic and a tumultuous time in history, it's a relief to see that beauty standards can be reshaped. But looking at these women walking the exact steps they’ve walked for decades leaves a bittersweet taste in the mouth. They came this far, yet their walk towards the sizzling glare of flashlights, wearing unaffordable clothing, looked frivolously and empty. Watching them made me wonder where are they going? Where are we going?