I haven't looked at fashion trends for a while, and took a look at Vogue's trends for Spring 2023 - what people would be wearing now.
I don't see a correlation between Vogue and real life. There's some kind of relationship between the prices in the Vogue article and what is on the racks at our retail stores but I haven't guessed it.
What got me by surprise was the numerous excessive length-of-sleeve tops. One might think this is a good thing for older women with arms no longer fashionably show-worthy. This is the opposite results - where overlong sleeves "turn a person into a child". There is much made about long sleeves looking childish. Humorous childish long sleeve t-shirts are witness to this. And then headlines asking how to solve a three year old who refuses to wear long sleeves.
Here's what this fashion magazine.com article says of the style: "Though they hint at destitution, excessive sleeves also convey its opposite, which is the hands-free existence of the ultra-leisured class. The very well heeled have never opened their own doors or carried their own shopping bags, so what does it matter if they cannot? But there is a more pernicious and, dare I say, even sinister interpretation of the trend for those who do use their hands on occasion: It hobbles the wearer. Oversized clothes and sleeves turn a person into a child. One burrows into clothes that are too big; one hides in them. Long sleeves conceal multitudes from the public eye: a knife, a con artist’s ace of spades, a self-harmer’s scars. And prolonged sleeves, which are buckled together like a straitjacket, signify helplessness—the utmost loss of control."
These are the thoughts of fashion critics. Let's turn to psychologists. The good therapy.orgarticle on the link between clothing choices and emotional states is HERE. Their study found that there is a strong link between clothing and mood state. There's a lot made of jeans being an indication of a negative mood.
“The study mentions that happy clothes include well-cut, figure-enhancing items made from bright and beautiful fabrics,” Heathman said.
If I apply that to the fashion industry, I would conclude that its social and mental state is one of depression and anxiety. Fashion models appear to be younger than adults - teenagers who look sullen and pouty. The clothing styles are wild and strange - perhaps like cartoons, animated movies and computer games.
Or perhaps the fashion industry manifests the current social state. Dress scholars Mary Ellen Roach and Joanne Eicher find that dress is one of the main ways to send social signals - what we wear shows our identity.
It could be that our fashion industry is signalling that there are serious social problems. While the Atlantic has weighed saying that fashion has abandoned human taste, perhaps it isn't that simple.
What got me wondering about all of this were the images in Grazia - some of the sleeves reach the ground and some of the outfits don't seem to be "clothes." You can click through then slide show by clicking at the first image HERE. But then I've extracted a few for you here. The long sleeves are particularly obviously long.
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