Jun Ropé

It’s a risky thing to say, but I sometimes find today’s fashion industry tedious. On the whole, history is a reliable source and learned guide to contemporary trends. Don’t get me wrong, I have much enthusiasm and solid admiration for various current designers but so many others appear to be very good at relying on the past for inspiration. Maybe my grasp of fashion is stereotyped but the impact of previous movements repeatedly springs to life in collections, hardly encouraging a true contemplation of the future. There is so much aesthetic nourishment to be found in the past and we don’t need to have detailed specialist knowledge of the period in which the clothes were made to appreciate their beauty. All you need is an open and receptive eye! Looking at old magazines, videos, films or books is a fun and engaging activity, which will give you swift access to the reality of today’s fashion. In this spirit, I feel impelled to show you these Jun Ropé videos. The Japanese brand was launched in 1968 and collaborated with Richard Avedon and Serge Lutens to create wonderful commercials. I hope you’ll find them as thrilling as I do. They are timelessly inventive! And if you like deconstructing modern fashion and building a repertoire of ideas borrowed from the past, make sure to look at this incredible blog (which I’m sure I’ve mentioned here before).