Spring Forward, Fall Back, Fast Forward For Fashion

Fashion is a fast forward industry, but continually falls back on archives to draw new inspiration from old styles. It’s as repetitious as the 1-2-3-4 beat of rock and roll including the back beat.

Often it’s easier to gauge changing weather patterns than to predict the rise and fall of fashion clothing. Like an inexperienced sailor navigating un-chartered waters, you’ll be tossed about by the waves and loose any sight of direction.

Many designers, ill equipped have been left high and dry on the high tide line. It’s a ruthless industry and piracy is rife.

But there’s always good weather on the way.

For those who are anecdotal-wise, here is one of particular interest, the outcome of an accident that changed the direction of men’s neckwear.

In the late 1940s, a silversmith named Victor Cedarstaff went riding with friends in the Bradshaw Mountains outside Wickenburg, Arizona. When the wind blew his hat off, Cedarstaff removed the hatband, which had a silver buckle he did not want to lose, and put it around his neck.

When his friends complemented him on the new apparel, Cedarstaff returned home, and wove a leather string. He added silver balls to the ends and ran it through a turquoise buckle.

Cedarstaff later patented the new neckwear, which was called the bolo because it resembled the lengths of rope used by Argentine gauchos to catch game or cattle.

Now mass-produced, bolos are usually made of leather cord, with a silver or turquoise buckle. They are common throughout the west and are often worn for business. In 1971 Arizona legislature named the bolo the official state neckwear.

Twenty years before the advent of the Bolo, another innovation took shape, when a pioneering Paris fashion designer, Jean Patou, invented the designer silk tie. He made silk ties from women's clothing material including patterns inspired by the latest art movements of the day, Cubism and Art Deco.

To a puritan, known, to a novice fascinating, to an aspiring designer essential knowledge, because fashion is based on historic events that helped shape the world. It is underpinned by the formation of style.

Definitive styles, without dropping names, are pretty thin on the ground. The dark suit is one that has been around for centuries and since the 20’s has changed little other than a few cosmetic alterations. Punk, as defined by Vivienne Westwood is in constant pursuit of perfection and still a major influential concept 30 years after inception.

Perpetuating her own unique style, Vivienne Westwood marks a new creative direction for men’s fashion accessories and jewellery design. Far removed from her early days of Punk; a comprehensive selection from her current collections of finely crafted silk ties, cufflinks and pendants for men.

If you want a tip of what fashion style is due next? Keep one eye on the weather it can change any time.

Finally another anecdote to fall back on: 1952: Douglas Fairbanks Jr declares 'Savile Row has recaptured the tailoring supremacy of the world'. Fairbanks Jr is one of the 20th century heroes of Savile Row. As far back as 1937, it is recorded in Anderson & Sheppard's ledgers that he recommended Marlene Dietrich to the firm when she was in England to make Russian revolution epic Knight Without Armour.

Have things really changed that much?