90s MINIMALISM - FROM THE SUBLIME AVANT-GARDE TO PROBLEMATIC ADVERTISING 

Great points! Yes the original creatives never get the credit deserved. Thank you for your perspective!

Really appreciate this comment, especially because youtube is heavily promoting shorter content. Thank you so much for watching!

Like @mprerr8967, I stumbled by coincidence on your channel a day ago and since been sifting through episodes. One word: refreshing! (More on that later). Allow me to be long winded, as 1) I rarely comment on YT plus not great on soc media 2) perhaps a reply/commentary all in one on several of your videos together 3) you deserve proper appreciation and of consequence, provoke your enthusiasm further. Before I delve, my bkgound: read architecture and worked in sales & marketing, at senior level for just under 3 decades in the fashion industry from mass brands to couture thus allowing me to extensively around the globe. Ie i know my threads to craft to product placement. Do remember, when I started, there were no schools or books of fashion business unlike today (schools only started in 2005) thus, I write from hands on experience and behind the scenes reality. I say this not to brag but to give substance to the below, in the hope not to be bias. Furthermore, I apologise if i come across unPC, i cant keep up with what’s right or wrong these days. I mean no offence in what I say more a conversation around the table with a glass of wine. Refreshing! Why? It’s refreshing to see how well documented (researched, critic, unbiased, etc) your episodes are (Not on Tik Tok or tweets for twats, so I can’t commentate) and perhaps need to be longer, maybe in “subject - Part 1,2, 3 etc because they deserve to be properly watched. You have a unique ability to not only articulate in depth on a topic but its context (social, political, cultural, artistic, etc) reminding viewers of the bigger picture, on parallels of patterns and the intricate nuances that blend into the reality. “Fabric of Society: fashion through the lens of time” could be the title of your book. Like you mentioned: Josef Albers - interaction of colour. Fashion and its multi faceted context in time. An eg: have you noticed something banal as soap, detergents etc have exotic smells. It’s arduous to find simple clean soap with a delicate fragrance. Reason: emerging markets, follow the money. Same with fashion. Brands are geared for making money thus satisfying tastes and demand, like your handbags or cosmetics. Hence, the return on bling and gaudi colours, cultural symbolism. Much like Asian cuisines. We’d see this when Arabs/Oligarchs and then the falling of Cold War which we catered for in the 90’s ie new money like China today. Gold is precious wherever you go. On minimalism, esp 90’s fashion my fav - I could listen to Rachmaninov, GnR, Nirvana, Marlyn Manson and Arvo Pärt at the same time; your analysis is spot on. You’re touched on Margiela, Pheobe Philo minimalism; expand to DADAism. A golden period 1870 - 1939 was a tectonic shift of great minds in Europe let it be in art, architecture, food, music, fashion, politics (socialism, communism, fascism), science, philosophy, suffergets, women’s rights, Industrial Revolution, etc. (read on the Weimar State through which Bauhaus came and/or that period, then bastardised in modernism, of no fault - the wars came in and geopolitics changed everything). Form and Function came through necessity less out of ideology. Some good minds Yves Klein, Meis Van der Rohe, Rothko, etc. were still provoking thought. Ism’s were born brutalist, modernism, Dadaism, feminism, protectionism, constructivism, deconstructionism, sexism etc There was no money. Houses had to be built, people fed, babies born. Photography took over art/painting/sculpture (realism). Architecture austere. Look at what we used to eat then and now. It’ll tell you a lot about western society and its progress since. Innovation came through need. Hoovers, kitchen appliances all the way to tractors etc. Women had to work - women’s rights. Liberal sex - we needed a population to work (look at why we have to work today compared (pay bills) to then where passion or craft was prioritised (knowledge)). I’m digressing (dyslexic). These ism’s haven’t had the time to settle and fully integrate in the social mind. Can you keep up with todays fashion? Why do we have walk in wardrobes? Can you keep up buying a new iPhone every year or a new bag? Is the return of maximalism (like in baroque, Rocco, classism, etc) our desire for comfort food - the known not the experimental? The 90’s had yuppies and yobs very much like Georgian/Victorian times - poverty and opulence the clash between catholics and Protestants. Juxtapositions. The anorexic look, H model, came about for two reasons: 1) photography - the camera lens, like it or not, unlike the human eye adds 6 kgs to your photograph ie you become a size or two bigger. Hence the models, still today, need to be underweight. 2) the consumer forgets they are not models. Most are short, overweight and/or aged. Karl Lagerfeld joke: what does a woman have between her tits? A navel. Likewise, Armani wouldn’t hire a model with a cup bigger than A/B. The designers aesthetic more technical, like 14 year old models being used for women’s wear. Their skin is perfect and they dont take recreational substances if professional. No puffy eyes. In this media influenced world, programmes like Emily in Paris butchers french cultural ideals esp on fashion. French/Parisian girls eat healthy, dont wear makeup, have limited wardrobes and certainly dont wear heels all the time. On cobbled streets?? Really? The stylist has probably never lived in Paris. Unlike, Patricia Fields (who i worked with in Greenwich) on Sex in the City, is a force to reckon with. Film photography is worse, models need to be skinny. Also, do remember, bodies change with age. That’s where Phoebe Philo’s ad’s are great and inclusive. She understands the body. Anne Hathaway couldn’t do Devil wears Prada today but Cate Blanchette, Christy Turlington could. This opens two questions for you: what is fashion? Tribalism, insecurities, loneliness, narcissism, look at me I’m here I’m here (attitude), consumerism? And then, what is Luxury? What is precious? Craft, product, handicraft, art, etc. Everything is nothing. Everything is a knock off. Plagiarism in full scale. Let it be food, clothes, architecture, thought. What is original anymore. What is beauty? Are we just billboards for brands? (Look into neuromarketing - fascinating subject, scary data and insight on consumerism) Living to media fairytales? What is fashion post pandemic: an economic monster of our own creation we have to feed? At what cost? I’d further add is fashion or dare say art, today as we know it, a western construct? Fashion art has culturally appropriated from the east for centuries chinoiserie etc and is it vice versa, eastern consumers appropriating western culture and to what consequence? Just thought provoking, doubt it would interest your viewers. Is it that china’s cancel culture during Maoism has left a void in identity? Climate change is not the only change happening. Refreshing. Regardless of my rant, I’d wholeheartedly encourage you to follow your endeavours. You have refreshing insights and an ability to draw parallels. I’d encourage you to write too and wish you the very best. I did warn you of this being long winded. Forgive me. Refreshing to see thought provoking content. Be well and keep up the good work.

P.S: forgot to mention Giorgio Armani and unstructured tailoring. And is Less, More? Cant wait for Pheobe Phil’s new collection, miss: Galianno, McQueen, Tom Ford when at Gucci (who btw had strong Japanese aesthetic influences (see his Texas ranch designed by Tado Ando). Also, look into 70’s Sex pistols, David Bowie strong influences on 90’s grunge/ Marlyn Manson - what is sex (gender neutrality- asexual aesthetic starting in Weimar State, women wearing trousers, etc) not that you need suggestions for future episodes 😂 All the best

Really appreciate this! Thank you so much for watching Cassy❤

Thank you so much Antonio! Really appreciate it :)

Thank you so much Sam! Yes American luxury brands definitely went into decline in the later 2000s and the outlets really did devalue them, despite being able to make short-term profits. Really appreciate you watching❤

Glad you like them! Thank you so much❤

So glad! I love how fashion is very inspired by design especially architecture. Thank you for watching!

Thank you so much Michel, really appreciate you watching!

Ohh yes Prada in the 90s was it! Thank you so much for watching❤

Thank you so much Virginia❤

Thank you so much Silvana❤

Thank you so much! Happy New Year❤

Thank you so much Jamie! Happy New Year❤

Thank you so much B!

Thank you so much Irene! Happy New Year❤

Appreciate this! Thank you for watching❤️

Thank you so much❤

You got it! Thank you for watching❤

Thank you so much Isabella❤

Thank you for watching Emma! More to come :)

Thank you so much❤️

Thank you so much Jillian💕

Thank you so much for watching🙏

Wow 👏👏

Thank you so so much!

It must have been amazing to experience the music and fashion in the 90s as a teen and I can see why it's so impactful. Thank you for watching❤

Yes the times impact our style! Thank you for watching TPM

Big Thank You! Appreciate you watching❤️

I definitely will look into them! Thank you for watching Caroline🙏

Yes her style deserves its own dedicated video! Thank you for watching❤️

lol! Yes the 90s was it!

Definitely! A historical moment. Thank you for watching❤

Thank yo so much Chynna❤❤❤

Love the 90s❤

Definitely my favorite aesthetic.

I'll take that as a compliment!

Great perspective, I was too young to remember the early 90s, but these points all make sense especially in the context of the 90s. Yeah I think grunge has this element of "normcore" that other subcultures like punk/goth did not. Thank you so much for your perspective!

@@MarysRoom good point! yes that sounds like it! At least for me there was a lot of not wanting to associate with a particular subculture too much and I think that resonated with so many people it became a thing - also grunge was close to the riot grrrl movement and that was something I could get behind. I kept thinking about this and remembered that there were a few fashion purchases for me as well, Chucks were a definitely a thing and I had a quite expensive leather jacket that was bought purely cause I thought it had a cool grunge style ^^; I have been wondering where all the money went, then I remembered it was back in the day where you had to purchase most of your music collection haha..your video made me reflect a bit and realise it might not be a coincidence I am pretty much the minimalist today, there is a red thread :)

Thank you Raw Eden❤️

Hey, I barely use it but if youre interested its marysroom_ Thank you for watching!

I do have IG, but barely use it @marysroom_