I spent the New Year in New York.
During my stay, I was strongly conscious of the 1920s.
At Bergdorf Goodman on Fifth Avenue, Gucci's fall/winter window displays were dazzling, and the 1920s fashion was also stunning in the musical "Nice Work If You Can Get It," which was nominated for Best Costume at the Tony Awards.
In my work in fashion, I see collections six months before they hit the shelves, so I had the feeling that the 1920s was a trend last year and had now died down, but on the streets, the 1920s was truly in full swing.
The 1920s was a time when people gave way to functional and simple clothing, and long hair gave way to short cuts, rather than the gaudy clothing of the past. The 1920s was a very stylish time, when politics, literature, art, and fashion were all discussed on the same level. In a series of essays critiquing clothing, Adolf Loos, an Austro-Hungarian modernist architect active from the turn of the century to the 1920s, emphasized the importance of both men and women wearing good clothing appropriate for the occasion. Fashion was more important during this period than it is today. From the turn of the century to the 1920s, countries in the Americas turned inward in both art and culture, rediscovering their own identity. The Whitney Museum of American Art held an exhibition titled "American Legends," showcasing the realists and modernists who shaped American identity from the 1920s onward. In Brazil, a "Modern Art Week" was held in São Paulo in 1922, and political and cultural expression, including art, began to take on a more Brazilian character. There's much to learn from the 1920s, from fashion to art. I welcomed the new year feeling like I was in "Midnight in New York," not "Midnight in Paris," a Woody Allen film that romantically synchronizes 1920s Paris with the present day.