Fashion & Grunge: A Misunderstanding

If I were to ask you, “Hey you- what is grunge?” You would probably answer that it was a musical and fashion movement of the early 1990’s pioneered by the reigning King and Queen of the time, Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain. Of course we all know they wore lots of plaid, combat boots, baby doll dresses, shredded jeans, and vintage tees…and then some more plaid to top it off. And this is all true. (So I’ve read…I was literally like 5 years old at the time.) SO we all know what the grunge “style” was about. But did you know that first and foremost grunge was a political, social, cultural and ideological movement? The fashionista in me LOVES that grunge aesthetic, but the human in me really identifies with what they stood for ideologically. The grunge movement was actually anti-fashion…as in it OPPOSED fashion. So, NOT anti-fashion in like, an Erin Wasson, Alexandra Richards, or Allison Mosshart kinda way. (Like “Wahhhh I’m just too cool to fuckin’ care, man. I just threw on this $300 tee and these $600 shredded jeans like ZOMG, I just don’t care about fashion”.) No. When I say anti-fashion I mean that they opposed and hated the fashion industry; because they were anti-consumption or even anti-capitalist. Shopping at thrift stores was NOT for fashion’s sake; it was because they refused to contribute to the “fashion engine”, if you will. While they did have a certain style and aesthetic, clothing was of the least concern for people in the grunge movement, they literally just needed to cover their body. And they simply wore what thrift stores had to offer, with no thought put into it.

Knowing this, we now see how this movement kinda got turned upside down once the “fashion engine” did catch wind of it. Marc Jacobs first introduced it to the high fashion world with his infamous “grunge collection” for Perry Ellis. As groundbreaking as that collection was, it did not perform in the marketplace. Why buy a top dollar “knockoff” when you can get the real thing for $3 at any local Salvation Army? Knowing these particular little bits and bobbles of history made me quite curious about the controversial new Saint Laurent Collection, because it seems that he’s having the same problem…maybe. One review said this, “These retro 1990s Saint Laurent clothes didn't look much different from what's already available from those brands (F21, H&M, Zara) for a fraction of the price. When Saint Laurent himself did rich hippie, it looked rich; this didn't look like rich grunge.” Wouldn’t it be ironic, and totally hilarious, if Slimane was already privy to this? What if he wanted us to ask these questions? Afterall, we did just learn that based on the underlying philosophy of the grunge movement “rich grunge” is a total and complete oxymoron…right? Well I’ve never met the guy, so I dunno if he is a brilliant genius or just designed a really cheap looking collection. Either way, his collection did inspire my look today and I am excited to see what this style renegade does next…you know how I love my rule breakers ;)

Vintage fur coat. Vintage flannel. Vintage sequin dress. Steve Madden Boots. F21 jewelry.

Until next time,

Brittany