More on cultural change
So, I'm finished with the '50s and am immersing myself in the '60s, which I consider to be one of the two most interesting periods of the 20th century, for all the change that it brought (the other is the '20s).
A quote from Rudi Gernrich in 1969:
Haute Couture doesn't have the same meaning any more, because money, status and power no longer have the same meaning. Now fashion starts in the streets.
Prior to this time culture (not just fashion) was dictated from above, and now suddenly youth had power. Much has been made of this, but it's a major change - I wonder how it felt to be working in one of the great design houses when this change started to happen? To feel your influence slipping away and being handed to young people designing clothes for themselves and their friends?
I've written before about cultural change but I'm still trying to crack the code - when you're living through a time it's difficult to see what's happening clearly, we need the passage of a few years, maybe even a decade or more to have that vital perspective.
A similar cultural change is happening now thanks to information and communication technology, with the internet: the power of the media is passing from those above (rich, powerful) to those of us down here. All you need to change the world is a good subscriber base....my how those above must be hating it?
Will this be our big new cultural change? It will need to impact on everything, and it's already doing a lot of that but I want to see it clearly, I want to see how it's going to change the way we live, the way we dress. I've always wanted the change to be environmental, I want people to live in a responsible and sustainable manner, but if technology can get us there, that's okay.
I want to see into the future, not be here bogged in the present and interpreting the past.
A quote from Rudi Gernrich in 1969:
Haute Couture doesn't have the same meaning any more, because money, status and power no longer have the same meaning. Now fashion starts in the streets.
Prior to this time culture (not just fashion) was dictated from above, and now suddenly youth had power. Much has been made of this, but it's a major change - I wonder how it felt to be working in one of the great design houses when this change started to happen? To feel your influence slipping away and being handed to young people designing clothes for themselves and their friends?
I've written before about cultural change but I'm still trying to crack the code - when you're living through a time it's difficult to see what's happening clearly, we need the passage of a few years, maybe even a decade or more to have that vital perspective.
A similar cultural change is happening now thanks to information and communication technology, with the internet: the power of the media is passing from those above (rich, powerful) to those of us down here. All you need to change the world is a good subscriber base....my how those above must be hating it?
Will this be our big new cultural change? It will need to impact on everything, and it's already doing a lot of that but I want to see it clearly, I want to see how it's going to change the way we live, the way we dress. I've always wanted the change to be environmental, I want people to live in a responsible and sustainable manner, but if technology can get us there, that's okay.
I want to see into the future, not be here bogged in the present and interpreting the past.