Escapist Fashion
Kirsten Dunst in Marie Antoinette (2006) directed by Sophia Coppola,
Fashion signals social status, group membership, and self-expression. It is a code we decipher every day with strangers and friends alike. But fashion’s ability to broadcast messages goes beyond the individual. It can be a greater indicator of social distress. As a genre, escapist fashion provides subtle insight into our shared malaise.
Hemlines and Hardships
The Hemline Index is a unique model for measuring economic change. The theory suggests that hemlines rise during economic prosperity, and skirts lengthen during times of financial strife. Even if there is doubt about the theory, there is a strong correlation between fashion trends and uncertain times, like the rise in athleisure and the death of Logomania after the 2008 Recession. Escapist fashion is the extreme of that correlation.
Getty Images/Photo By Karai Tang, 2018, Met Gala: Heavenly Bodies
The 1960s marked massive social upheaval, from the Vietnam War to the Civil Rights Movement to the technological leaps of the Space Race. Fashion looked forward and back, resulting in utopian space-age mod styles and the fantastic medieval revival. Even Marie Antoinette engaged in escapist fashion: the literal cottagecore queen had a hamlet built on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles where she played pretend in the idealized life of a peasant in the French countryside. This coincided with her introducing the chemise à la reine, a loose garment which contrasted the pomp and structure of French court fashion. Within the same decade, the unrest in the country would result in the French Revolution. A response to both an insular royal court and the rise of Enlightenment ideals, the chemise may be the most famous instance of escapist fashion.
“Unprecedented” Times
As touched on earlier, the most popular escapist aesthetic today is cottagecore, with its romanticized simple life. Other trends that fall under the escapist umbrella are fantasy aesthetics, like knightcore, and even dark academia. While these trends have existed for some time, they grew in popularity due to the quagmire of the Covid pandemic and global political strain. Additionally, these trends seek out times, real or imagined, which lack modern technology. It is the desire for simpler times, where we can romanticize an acre of land or a library at midnight, or dive into the more fantastical. By wearing these desires through fashion, we make the escape from modern life seem tangible, even when it is just a daydream.
