Dark Fashion
Darkness in fashion is seldom bland.
Even where it fails, its objective is to make its mark, whether one of elegance or uniformity, modesty or dangerous seduction. Like red wine rather than white, it can suggest sophistication, even opulence; like the darks of professional makeup—the art of smoky defining shadows and dark lipstick—it can obscure what we find less appealing and hint at mysterious qualities that a scrubbed-clean face couldn’t hope to inspire. —
Article by Nina Edwards via the Paris Review
To ignore the unspoken rules of dress is to draw attention to oneself and to seem to make a critical statement about the status quo as if one knows better.
We may not think we give a damn about what we wear, but still, we can find ourselves caring very much when even the smallest aspect of dress feels curiously unlike ourselves, as for a conservative dresser in a tie that is brighter or fractionally wider than his custom. It may be important to a person that their clothes do not look cheap—or, to another, too new.
Black is the color of formal clothing, of the cowed and of the law-abiding, of Romanticism, of wandering religious fanatics, of mourning and of tired workaday uniform. It is armor against the status quo, but it is also considered erotic and has been adopted by the sex industry. It is by far the most common color, or noncolor, of everyday trousers, skirts, and shoes. Whether elegantly formal or informal, black clothing has increasingly become “the emblematic color of modernity.”
Today dark clothing has become ubiquitous.
It can be sexy, flattering, neutral, daringly individualistic, and even subversive.
Dark Fashion, 'fashion in its widest sense'. —
Darkness in fashion is seldom bland. Even where it fails, its objective is to make its mark, whether one of elegance or uniformity, modesty or dangerous seduction. Like red wine rather than white, it can suggest sophistication, even opulence; like the darks of professional makeup-the art of smoky defining shadows and dark lipstick-it can obscure what we find less appealing and hint at mysterious qualities that a scrubbed-clean face couldn't hope to inspire.
