If I’ve learned anything from working in and around this industry, it’s that, in matters of the haute – that is, the high side of fashion and the trends that ensue – you should never say ‘never’.
Consider the infamous case of crocs: Who’d have thunk that those blobs of clumpety rubber would ever end up on a runway? Yet, Lo! and behold, there they appeared clear as day at Christopher Kane’s Spring/Summer 2017 showcase.
So too goes the story with tie-dye. Sure, it might have been the uniform de choix of your misspent youth, synonymous with diabolical decisions at festivals (and ones even more so in the hair department), but the darling of DIY fashion is well and truly back in the industry’s good books, whether you like it or not.
Exhibit A: Proenza Schouler. Continuing from where they left off in January (a tribute of sorts to textile artist, Sheila Hicks), Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough returned to the New York schedule with a runway that was similarly steeped in tie-dye, combining the technique with artful acid washes that only went towards emphasising the look’s nostalgic nineties undertones. Fellow NYC mainstay, Prabal Gurung used his SS19 platform to begin conversations of resistance; employing ‘resist’ dyeing (the technique from which tie-dye was born) to visualise his poignant message via both technical and thematic avenues.
Earlier this year, Stella McCartney bought back Kering’s stake in her business, and her SS19 runway appeared to celebrate the freedom that ensued. In fact, anything that goes heavy on tie-dye is bound to scream precisely that: Freedom.
Similarly bold tendencies cropped up again and again throughout the season, levelling the field between these established heavyweights and the up-and-coming bright sparks. Fashion East breakthrough, A Sai Ta of ASAI combined the provocateur subversiveness of traditional streetwear – a match made in heaven for tie-dye, and one that was also echoed at MSGM in the form of chunky trainers and boxy tailoring – with an elegant touch. Streamlined silhouettes and ornately decorated garments that referenced an overarching message of pacifism, harkened to the motives of the original hippie movement and, of course, tie dye.
In fact, far from being the starter kit for Coachella and/or Austin Powers' disco two-piece (delete as applicable), tie-dye has boasted all kinds of meaning for SS19, from the punchy to the profound...
Now that's groovy, baby!
Dip your toe into the tie-dye trend now. Shop our edit of the best here:
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