I want to meet someone who wears Loewe leather balloon shoes, grabs a Schiaparelli sweater with a gold-embellished breastplate at Bergdorf Goodman, or goes to the grocery store with a Louis Vuitton x Yayoi Kusama embellished pumpkin bag . Kooky luxury conveys an attitude about life, clothes and consumption that, to me, is more aspirational than no-name T-shirts and humble jeans and bomber jackets (looking at you, Kendall Roy). I ask you, why does “timeless” fashion have to be understated, even boring? Something like Rick Owens’ Lifeguard Down Jacket is so special and deliciously quirky that it’s as timeless as a piece of modern art—you don’t have to “get it” to have value.
Instead of analyzing why camel coats are at at (don’t they always?), let’s talk about why Are designers today embracing surrealism or ready-made Dadaism, or why they reference fantasy novellas like The Little Prince or philosophies like The Futurist Manifesto . Better yet, let’s understand why people are drawn to this fad, and the refusal to conform and embrace humor, imagination, and even an irrational take on the current moment. To me, eccentric luxury suggests that its wearer is not afraid to take up space, and that their perspective is less grounded in the here and now and more grounded in the dream. The reality is so bleak, isn’t it better?
