Consistently one of my favorite themes in apparel is Street Style. When clothing represents acts of travel, grit, comfort, it’s able to be received by the masses who can so easily utilize and appreciate the wearability of each individual piece in a collection. Street style in and of itself however, does not have an identity. Through execution of varied embellishment, embroidery, print, fabric, and so on street style is given it’s character.
Presented with a militant femme energy Prada’s Spring 2018 Ready to Wear collection promoted London and New York street style based on the work of contemporary and late female cartoonists. Screen printed overcoats, embellished shorts, jacquard and feathered dresses, all showcase the Zeitgeist of 2018.
Sourced through thrift shops and visions of young girls wearing and cutting up their father’s old clothing, the styling of this collection has an oversized, layered appeal with hints of femininity. In many ways each element of this collection reminds me much of my life today.
Staring out the window of my small room in the city, my father and grandfather’s old oversized flannels and bomber jackets hanging in my closet, I am reminded of their influence impressed upon me as an independent woman. As I walk to work daily, my gaze directed upwards at the massive buildings neighboring me, my sneakers shuffling quickly along the sidewalk beneath, the sparkly embellishments of my jewelry in the sunlight, I envision the evolution of my own experience relating to apparel–my past at a small-town consignment store, present in Boston, and future unwritten.
What this collection represents for me is all of these things and the control possessed by young women to write the successes of their own future because of the influential women and men who came before. Despite the inevitable failures and setbacks that will occur along our journey, we must press forward, bodied by both embellishment and grit.
Elizabeth Keeter 