Eternal nostalgia for the Roaring Twenties

As the world began to recover from the pandemic, a renewed desire to start living, going out and celebrating again brought designers and big brands back to another period of great change, that of the early 20th century, of fringes on dresses and garçonne helmets, of female emancipation and scandalous flappers, of jazz clubs and a vibrant creative energy that infected art, literature and style.

World War I had just ended and the outbreak of World War II still seemed a long way off. People, tired of misery and sacrifice, felt the need to reclaim their lives, especially the frivolous and joyful side that the war and all that it had brought with it had taken from them. The economy was showing signs of recovery, the art scene was animated by legendary talents such as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Pablo Picasso, Joséphine Baker was driving French men crazy as they flocked to see her perform at the theatre on the Champs-Elysées, Louise Brooks and Clara Bow were the it-girls to follow, Elsa Schiaparelli was collaborating with Dali creating fabulous surrealist clothes and, together with Coco Chanel, Paul Poiret, Jean Patou and Jeanne Lanvin were setting the trends of the moment for freedom, functionality and a bolder approach to life. These same characteristics revolutionized the wardrobe of women who, having thrown away the corsets and bodices typical of the Victorian era, emancipated themselves from the constraints and diktats of the past. For the first time they played sports, drove cars, worked in offices and smoked in public like men, and for this they needed more unstructured and comfortable (but equally elegant) clothes, but also more practical haircuts. The flappers, the scandalous girls of the Roaring Twenties who dawned in speakeasies and animated decadent parties such as those recounted in The Great Gatsby, sported the short bob à la garçonne and straight-cut dresses (perhaps in ultra-modern jersey), with knee-length hems and low waists, designed to free movement and be perfect for the routine of the time.  In the evening, those garments were filled with glittering rhinestones, feathers, beads, sparkling threads, pearls and fringes that swayed to the rhythm of jazz. 

A century later, designers and big brands still refer to the 1920s and, as has happened in the past in other seasons (remember John Galliano's and Rick Owens' most iconic shows?), fringes, bling-bling chains, feathers, baggy silhouettes, cardigans, men's ties, cocoon coats, Mary Jane's and pearls are back on the catwalks for autumn-winter 2022-2023. It is easy to draw parallels between the wardrobe of the era and Simone Rocha and Molly Goddard low-waisted gowns; Givenchy pearl-studded cocktail creations or Miu Miu crystal-encrusted ones; Miuccia Prada tennis outfits that would have been perfect for Suzanne Lenglen's matches; the refined proposals of Giorgio Armani; the luminous threads that dress the body between seduction and glam as those worn by Joséphine Baker on the stage of the Casino de Paris or the refined proposals of Philosophy by Lorenzo Serafini inspired by the Berlin of the Weimar Republic and the painter Jeanne Mammen.  The codes are the same as at the beginning of the last century, but they are updated and revised with a more contemporary twist designed to tell the story of a new post-pandemic beginning that has in it both nostalgia for a seemingly perfect moment in the past and the promise of a lighter, glittering future, far from the recent gloom.