The Authority of Draping

Ann Demeulemeester S/S 09

Alaska Native and Native American traditions are commonly understood to have a concept of respecting ones elders. Such regard is based at least partially in the idea that by the older years a person has lived through such a variety of experiences that together confer perspective from which someone can give insight and advice. It also reflects the idea that by ones older years a person has lived through enough, simply by being alive and an active part of the community, that he or she deserves the respect that comes from just surviving that long, and the respect from having helped to make the community what it is currently.

I tend to agree with the idea that over time we earn certain types of authority and insight. But also, that what we do needs to take such development into account for us to have a healthy balance in our lives. That there are some basic types of respect that as people we're entitled to, but many other sorts that we have to earn through age, through our own consistent behavior, and even at times through our position in society.

My previous post on what I'll wear in the purple years gets at this idea in the sense that the kind of opulence I see in those garments, I believe, I do not yet have the authority to wear, even if I have the proper attitude to get away with a lot.

I do, however, believe I could appropriately get away with the kind of draping, and layers found in Haider Ackermann's Fall 09 collection. And, I have to say, I love it. I appreciate too, how as he's gained more experience designing under his own label, he seems to have become more and more at home in his own style. There is a kind of balance in this collection that I think brings together more completely than previous seasons Ackermann's various abilities and inclinations. He's been interesting from the beginning, but the feel of Fall 09 is even more easy and comfortable with itself. With that in mind, I submit this post under the following mantra: may we all grow more comfortable, and more comfortably expressive in ourselves over time.