Like so many of us, I've been transfixed by rolling news coverage over the past (God, has it really only been) two weeks. From the surreal slow fades between rioters and attendees on the Guardian's live coverage of the inauguration, to Sean Spicer and Kelly Anne Conway's truly Orwellian newspeak and the sustained protests across the globe: it's been a sickening, saddening, inspiring, fearful, hopeful, angry journey. Trying to process all these reactions is not easy at the best of times, and yet I find myself struggling as well with the creeping impulses to view everything through the lens of the (whisper it) fashion industry that I predominantly work in.When I see footage of face-covered anarchists in technical apparel smashing up a Starbucks, a tiny part of me sees the black-ops-streetwear of German tech brand Acronym, or the 90s output from mil-spec obsessed Japanese brands like WTAPS. I don't just see a dangerous buffoon who doesn't know how to knot his scarlet tie, I also see an East Coast socialite who remembered the advice from one of those meticulous gentlemen's style guides, on how lengthening the tie masks the size of a heavy gut. The slogans splashed beautifully across the slow, peaceful marches worldwide: they evoke the runways of Undercover; of Vivienne Westwood; of countless designers who recognise that words are able to speak in a way that can't always be summoned solely through patterns and fabrics.Read more on i-D.
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