Video Chic

"It was a dream of extreme romanticism," said Miuccia Prada about her fall collection. "The idea of eighteenth-century painting, with video games. A romanticism between past and future." As part of her research, Prada reportedly observed players in arcades.

One wonders which she saw. While the romanticism is fairly evident in the soft silhouettes and the flourishes blooming in trim and accessories - although there does seem to be some debate in the press over whether this is nineteenth or eighteenth century - I fail to see the influence of video games aside from the use of "techno fabrics" (whatever that means), some vague prints that look like they might be badly blurred screenshots, and cute little robots showing up in decals and as plastic toggles on belts.

Although the collection is as technically proficient as all her work is, it is disappointingly evident that Prada hasn't understood the fundamental premise of video games. Video game aesthetic isn't just about tacking on some shorthand evocative visual details. I actually do agree with Prada that there is an element of extreme romanticism in video games currently - they are naive, idealistic, ever-optimistic; but, as Ernest Adams opined in his talk at the Game Developer's Conference [free registration required], the mode of discourse is much much more primitive than nineteenth-century Byronic elegance. Or even eighteenth century pre-Revolution nostalgia.

For a more sincere take on video games, look to Alexander McQueen, London bad boy and former street rat, someone who has experimented with video and film. His Ready to Wear collection for last fall exquisitely embodies the mythic, pre-modern extravagance of video game aesthetics. This collection might well have been titled Final Fantasy. The clear, overpoweringly visual construction of the clothing precisely reflects the current obsession with crisper, realer-than-real graphics in games, while the idiomatic stylistic vocabulary fuses the cinematic futurism onto proto-literary heroic archetypes.

The work as a whole is boldly theatrical, but in a much more simplistic - almost atavistic - way than, say, the work of John Galliano, who tends more towards coy playfulness. Galliano's women are role-players, teasers and strippers and cabaret dancers; but McQueen's women are heroines and goddesses - remote, powerful, and outrageous. They could crush Prada's refined ladies with a single kick of a delicate high-heeled boot.

The form, the movement, the energy of the collection is breathtaking. As in modern video games, there is nothing subtle about either the conception or the visualization of the themes. Every stroke is bold and unhesitant, every line is confidently executed. If video games are about power fantasies - which, with a few unusual exceptions, they still are - then this collection embodies the superhero quest: iconic avatars against the world.

Comments

[Andrew]

I didn't know you were such a fashion buff.

[jane]

Oh, yes. In fact before I started GGA I thought I would start an indie fashion magazine. I was frustrated that mainstream fashion publications completely lack true critique - much in the same way that mainstream video game magazines do.

And now I'm thinking, why not combine everything I love?

[Andrew]

Well, you could probably endlessly critique the recent final fantasy games and all of their ridiculous outfits.

[ClockworkGrue]

I agree with Jane here. Keeping in mind that I am hardly a fashion hound myself, and thus making it likely that Prada is attempting to communicate something that I am completely missing, I'd say that Prada seems to have designed clothes for the NPCs of the gaming world while the main characters will be flying airships or taking on Dracula in McQueen's line.

[Snowmit]

You're right about McQueen. I had to look at those images really carefully before I was convinced that they weren't screen shots. The whole thing is eerily reminiscnet of Cosplay. Like someone with a big budget and no particular alliance to a certain game or character decided to get in the spirit.

[e]

yeah. one does "wonder" especially when i look @ the prada pic...which doesnt necessarily show any "video game" qualities...its a girl in a skirt and cardigan...rather frumpy IMO

On the other hand, McQueen's stuff is really different...and what I would like to be wearing(especially the all black pant outfit!)

[e]

yeah. one does "wonder" especially when i look @ the prada pic...which doesnt necessarily show any "video game" qualities...its a girl in a skirt and cardigan...rather frumpy IMO

On the other hand, McQueen's stuff is really different...and what I would like to be wearing(especially the all black pant outfit!)

[joebun]

just waiting for cosplay to become the next big fashion trend.

[Liz]

I agree with e, the Prada look is reminiscent of the gamer themselves (that is what you were saying, isn't it)? The rest seem to have taken inspiration from the characters, which is really cool. The LOVE the fashion stuff and it is relevant.

[Liz]

I agree with e, the Prada look is reminiscent of the gamer themselves (that is what you were saying, isn't it)? The rest seem to have taken inspiration from the characters, which is really cool. The LOVE the fashion stuff and it is relevant.

[Liz]

I agree with e, the Prada look is reminiscent of the gamer themselves (that is what you were saying, isn't it)? The rest seem to have taken inspiration from the characters, which is really cool. The LOVE the fashion stuff and it is relevant.

[crankyuser]

Snowmit,

If/when corporations start tapping the cosplay market in full force, will that make homemade otaku versions the cheap knockoffs of the fashion world? Has anyone other than DOA Volleyball done this yet? I'd do more research on this but I'm at work ;)

Interestingly I feel that for DOA it's more about fetishes, whereas for most cosplay it's about empowerment, as ClockworkGrue says. Maybe because DOA is about hypersexualization rather than strong character development?

[BrainFromArous]

Um, you ARE all aware that you're discussing clothes, right? Just checking. ;)

[Christian McCrea]

And for the boys, Alexander McQueen did a series of quite opulent dandy/fencing outfits a couple of years ago. I remember that he said he set out to design a videogame version of Oscar Wilde's "Venus and Tannhauser", which is quite possibly the greatest single idea man has ever allowed himself to concieve.

"the mode of discourse is much much more primitive than nineteenth-century Byronic elegance."

Agreed, although I think there is something to be said for how games use of genre has potentials for interesting plays on historicity. Potential, though, is one thing. Bring on a time-travel game where the heroine's outfit transforms as she goes back and forth.

The best argument at an academic conference on games I've ever seen was a film theorist, well under attack from ludologists, was heard to say: "you all need film people, because we've been properly socialise, and know how to argue, and more importantly, how to dress." Hilariously wrong, but I wonder if there's something to be said for the involvement of better fashion design in games, it is entirely confluent with character design at present, which is very interesting onto itself. A character's visual make-up is the realm of an art department, and then passed onto coders to assemble a system of relations to their environment.

Final Fantasy's change in art and character design has been marked not only by higher and higher skirt lines for girls (from the sado-librarian Quistis to ditzy Yuna to ditzier Yuna) while there are softer and softer lines on male characters. Vaan and Ashe from FFXI are drifting towards androngyny.

As an aside (okay, fan plug), I thought Square's Vagrant Story managed to capture a highly carnivalesque (in the first sense, not nessessarily the Bahktinian), theatricalised, almost Commedia aesthetic. The story was highly gestural to match, but especially Guildernstern

... and our buddy Ashley Riot

[Sean]

While I do agree that he's capturing the videogame visual aesthetic far better than the other, Jane is exaggerating the case slightly. Looking at the some of the other designs in the collection, I'd be hard pressed to claim "As in modern video games, there is nothing subtle about either the conception or the visualization of the themes. Every stroke is bold and unhesitant, every line is confidently executed. If video games are about power fantasies - which, with a few unusual exceptions, they still are - then this collection embodies the superhero quest: iconic avatars against the world." I saw numerous minor characters there. Still, the _bulk_ of the outfits are pretty strongly videogamey, so I don't fault the article; I just think it's not quite as, umm, black and white.

Also worth nothing is how the bold video game strokes were received by the non-videogamers:
"Still, the moments that made the audience catch its breath were those that betrayed McQueen's softer, more romantic side. One was a jacket constructed of white tulle pom-poms that looked like a bubble of snowballs. The other was the prettiest dress in the show: pale gray chiffon cut in an empire shape, embroidered with sequins and worn by Natalia Vodianova with the brightest red ruched over-the-knee boots." Oh well.

[Sean]

Also worth *noting*. My domain name controls my fingers.

[vishnou00]

"idiomatic stylistic vocabulary fuses the cinematic futurism onto proto-literary heroic archetypes."
Consider this line alone and try not to laugh, but it sure sounds better than "it's like a Lord of the Rings hero dressed up for the Matrix"

Nonetheless, I did apreciate the post.

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