Some things are attractive to the human mind: constellation-writ personalities are one. I rebelled against the darker manifestations of my own star sign – I mean me, materialistic and conservative? But then there are those other attributes, ruled by Venus: tactility and luxury and creativity and art, friendship, food, and sensuality, reliability and determination. The romance of it is seductive when you get up close, when you think of it as a kind of poem.
Morse, for those who don’t know, was/is an 80s/90s detective drama TV series set in Oxford. Based on the Colin Dexter novels, it features a snowy-haired detective who digs crypic crosswords, beer, luxury vehicles and seducing hot middle aged babes. Oh and justice. He’s big on that. If that description didn’t win you over I think maybe you should do the replicant test because it's hectic.
I personally find it incredibly soothing to watch – something about its unflinching internal logic and the predictability of genre TV, plus the Oxford obsession I have which is still in full swing – but lately I have also been noticing that there is some pretty great fashions involved too. The golden era of normcore! Not only are the tourists and characters peak upmarket 80s perfection, the students provide head to toes that get me taking notes. A few case studies, for your consideration.
Morse does gothrave:
This episode is a golden triumph on multiple levels, (special mention to Sergeant Lewis who would've thrown some sick shapes, glow sticks and furry pants etc, if he wasn't on duty). But I was most interested in a particular gothrave look which is ON POINT, and comes direct from a goth 90s raver etsy seller. The screen grabs don't do it justice, but imagine: velvet choker, chain backpack, brown lipstick, body con mini skirt and witch boots. Plus lob. Would wear.
Stuff:
Vintage Chanel backpack, Etsy
Velvet choker, also Etsy
Dress, Matches
Blazer, Etsy
Boots, Etsy
Morse does normcore:
We need to talk about everything here. The hot pink, oversized tshirt, the patchwork overalls (in a star pattern no less), a loose 80s french braid with a friggen velvet scrunchie. Add white sneakers. They also ALL rides bikes. This chick could work at Vice. From this episode.
Do anything you want with your hair. Grow it out, cut it short, dye it, curl it, straighten it. Whatever.
I feel most myself with hair that tickles the small of my back. Hair that only needs a bi-annual cut. I like to feel it soft curling around my neck, a portable scarf against the cold, or a portable cushion on long hauls. Winding around my head in snaking braids. Pushed back by the summer wind like a lover’s touch. It takes at least three hours to dry. Black as midnight, heavy as sun, soft as a pillow. Hair that hides and reveals. Metal dudes, hippies, models, bikers, medieval princesses, surfies, Jesus freaks, cult members, Amish chicks, vikings… fellow long hairs, I salute you.
Few daydreams compel like the ideal, the idyll, the idol of Arcadia. Rural retreat, running through fields, still moments of congress with nature- it started with Virgil around 39BC, and there’s been no let up since. This utopia, this bucolic best, this neverland of nature spirits, is as compelling as it is fictional – but as a wiser person than me once said, never let the truth stand in the way of a good dress.
It may have been the hypnotic, pointillist-painted prismatics of the Parisian setting at the Musée Rodin, but the mood was early set with light magic.
Image: Dior
What could have been twee, seriously wasn’t – fields of flowers were taken into space via hallucinatory overtones; and given a deep, earthy sexuality thanks to slits, splits and sheers. (See: the tunic split that sent Tilda Lindstam down the runway almost naked); and that deep dark deep V in inky midnight blue velvet. And we haven’t even talked about the sleeves.
Raf refs were definitely there, echoes to his previous work for Jil Sander with those just-so clutched coats, but what struck me most was the new material: rustic nymphets on acid and the never-say-never mix of medieval miss and seventies starlet. The word 'contrast' finds its way into every fashion review, but here it seems just. The medieval references were armed as much as adorned: layered chain mail bodices compelled and repelled, light and heavy, and gave an otherwise princessy mood a backstage, back off feel. Walking to Pink Floyd, the 70s groupie was definitely invited to the party, but the overall mood was an altered state in which women feel simultaneously sexy, pure, earthy, spiritual, inviting and repelling, both pretty and avant garde. And aren’t we all?
The clothes looked best in movement: in the live stream, stuttering and starting over inconstant internet, glimpsing wide leg pants in mid-walk; diaphanous dresses and curled-up hems in mid-curl, witnessing the floor length velvet maxi coat in fluid, deep motion…
Runway images: Dior & Style.com
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