Being “basic” has gotten a bad rep of late, thanks to the proliferation of memes devoted to mocking those deemed to fit the term. But several new and emerging labels may send the pendulum swinging in the other direction. Whether it is a 100 percent recycled cotton T-shirt or a luxuriously updated sportswear staple, ingeniously reinvented classics make being basic sound (and look) like not such a bad thing.
The fashion industry is in the business of creating moments out of moods, and trends from the temporal. And it does this, of course, to persuade us to part with our money, to buy into the new and the exotic, the other and the extraordinary.
So what do the economically minded do when the mood calls for restraint, and all things ephemeral are tangibly tasteless?
Ultimately, fashion has moved on once more – as it always does. But the minimalism that came with a certain moment still informs the looks being unveiled on the catwalks this season: shapes are plainer; femininity is played down, spoken in colour and sculpted shapes rather than frills and froth; and above all, the emphasis remains on investment.
It will take us a while to rehabilitate our weary wallets, but the time will come again for conspicuous consumption.
