text by Angelo Flaccavento
As an outer skin that one can discard and change as fast and as often as one wishes, there is an inherent levity—certainly a frivolity—to clothing, and with that, more broadly, to fashion, which is electrifying, reassuring, and elating, even. And yet, in the current climate of heavily branded storytelling, of fake intellectualism as a cover-up for a disheartening lack of ideas, neverending recycling of old ones, and plagiarism of identities, levity is nowhere to be found. Everybody in the system, designers in particular, but also critics and commentators, aspire to the role of deep thinkers, or gurus with hoards of followers to indoctrinate. They all bring the discourse to philosophical heights and unprecedented ideological peaks, probably neglecting the fact that what we enjoy managing is just items of clothing, expressive signifiers of modernity with built-in obsolescence that will make them passé in a nanosecond; certainly misremembering that this is, after all, just fashion.
I am probably giving in to the same mistake here, and being quite heavy or moralistic in my thinking, so please allow me to clarify the aforementioned statement. I am adamant that everything about fashion is deeply philosophical and endlessly thoughtful, that visual language is as meaningful and piercing as verbal language, if not more, that the aesthetic is blatantly political and that the frivolous is actually ideological. I am also convinced that such qualities are high in density but very light in weight, almost weightless in fact, and matter exactly because of that. Considering fashion a heavy topic, somehow, is a way to defuse its power, to diminish its reach, to deactivate its seditious essence. The same applies to many other human activities, both creative and non-creative.
Frivolity matters, that’s the point. Floating lightly is the way forward: being as impalpable, constantly moving, changing and shifting as clouds; embracing impermanence. In this sense, with its silly fickleness, fashion can be an effective vessel for levity, a wonderful way to accept transience as a condition that frees us from the burdens of life and allows us to float and flow well above them, amusing ourselves along the way. What’s not to love about such a prospect? And yet, nobody wants to be taken lightly as of late, not even die-hard fashion victims. Levity and frivolity increasingly sound like a curse, an insult, when in fact, deep things hide on the surface. Levity is movement; frivolity comforts, offers ways to shapeshift, to be free from the constraints of being engagé; they are both, ultimately, so very human. Frivolity and levity are as bold in substance as they are light in impact. They are something that fluidifies, electrifies and beautifies the theater of social life in which we all take part as leads or in supporting roles, ready to change those roles as life commands, to embrace the unknown with promptness.
Why are we in a levity-deprived fashion environment populated by self-sufficient, pompous intellectuals, then? I have a theory. An exaggerated one, but still: the unwilling culprit in this killing of levity is Miuccia Prada. It was Ms. Prada, in fact, who brought culture, in the broader sense, within the realm of fashion. It was she who opted for intellectualism over the traditional fashion talk. By doing so, she created a potent identity for herself and her brand, so much so that many others emulated her, adopting, adapting, expanding, but ultimately distorting. What works for Ms. Prada is the result of a very personal way of thinking and an organic ideological path, but becomes a staged, fabricated, and rather forced affair for others. It becomes as heavy as lead: that’s it. But there is more. Despite being intensely intellectual, Ms. Prada has never tamed the fashion animal within her, nor the frivolity and levity that come with loving jewels, sparkle, glamor even. She is light and playful in her brainy approach, that’s how she creates her magic. She is the epitome of thoughtful levity. Her followers, meanwhile, only focus on intellectualism. They become cumbersome, self-centered, and unable to take it lightly in their penseur poses.
The kind of ego-pleasing self-punishment that many fashionistas have imposed on themselves when it comes to disdaining frivolity, humor and levity in favor of serious intellectualism and ideology looks to me like a renouncement of sorts, a freezing of energy. They just stop in their tracks to luxuriate in the contemplation of their thought process, refusing the inherent playfulness of fashion. It is a pity. Levity, after all, is the fuel that prompts movement, the exhilarating gas that releases the lightness of being at its full potential. Frivolity is bubbly; it acknowledges that changing opinion, style, or shape is acceptable. It is, quite simply, a self-standing and self-affirmative gesture of life devoid of any hidden meaning. It gives a zest of joy and the strength that comes from the magic of being alive and ready to align with the movement of the universe in ways that are immediate and spontaneous, almost childlike. There is a silliness to it that is positively juvenile.
Embracing this kind of childishness is not being silly, however. Just think of what Cy Twombly and Paul Klee achieved by unlearning, by letting their tools dance on canvas and paper in ways more suited to a kid, or a caveman. Levity is existentially weighty. It comes with the recognition that nothing lasts, nothing is finished, nothing is perfect. It’s very wabi-sabi and quite melancholic. Levity is the awareness that everything probably happens for a reason, but looking for that reason might take a lifetime, and in the end, one might not succeed in finding it, so we may as well dance, flow, float above it all like a feather.
Multiplicity is the essence of the human condition, and levity is probably the best way to slightly and readily grasp it. Clouds come to mind. As a changing of state that’s essential to the life of our planet, clouds can go from quiet to stormy in a flash, anticipating a versatile state of mind in which clear thinking, symbolized by water and air, can pass through any turmoil, come rain or shine, and result in a balance that is full of lightness and readiness. Levity is ultimately a way to accept everything as a process, rather than a fixed state. As such, it works perfectly well in fashion, as in life. In this token of writing, the focus has constantly shifted between the two, probably with a certain unruliness. That’s the sparkle of levity: a keenness and liveliness in shifting and adapting. And so on and so forth, until the very end.