By Amelle El-Ahmadi
We all know that fashion in constantly reinventing itself. Designers are ready to change their image and come up with freshly new ideas all the time, providing insight that is invaluable when it comes to creating a new concept in the fashion world.
Historically speaking, one-off fashion items worn on the catwalk become more significant with the years, as designers don’t reproduce the same items twice. As a result, the exclusivity of wearing something that no one can purchase anymore has become the trendy thing within this industry, and is what fashion victims value the most when it comes to archive fashion.
But what is exactly archive fashion? And why does everybody care?
Archive fashion has became incredibly significant as a “wearable time capsule” related to fashion history, which is what makes these pieces so special. Not only do they receive admiration and appreciation from others, but they also show the complex thought processes of the designer.
People collect stamps, posters, vinyl, cars… the fashion-obsessed will collect pieces of clothing that are worth an incredible amount of money – and the rarest and the oldest, the better.
High fashion has become accessible to many, whereas archive fashion is seen as the peak of fashion authenticity. Collectors spend time and money in the quest to research and hunt for archive fashion’s meaning. Usually, these archive clothes are related to streetwear and music culture, where they are highly influential.
However, each fashion tribe has their own key designers: it can be Vivenne Westwood for some, Raf Simons for others. And avant-gardists may have a preference for Rick Owens or Margiela, alongside with the first wave of Japanese fashion designers who take a big place in the industry with Issey Miakye, Yohji Yamamoto or Rei Kawakubo.
And because those hype rappers wore these rare pieces in their videos, that means they grow in popularity, which means the market value for these archive pieces goes up. This explains the high price of these clothes. The real fashionistas love it – because it’s an extension of their personality. And archive fashion just stretches the possibility of what you can be – and not be – into.
Madalina Gheorghita, a 25-year-old fashion designer says: “I think archive fashion is very important because it’s part of history and we need history to remember our past for our future creations. I hope that every piece of archived garment will be kept and maintained as a piece of history for the future generations.”
The playing field for fashion is getting wider, from fast contemporary hype pieces to slow burn coming with age archive pieces. It is all expanding and is pretty much as seen as the most diversified generation of youth fashion. The aesthetics of archive fashion is never just a piece of clothing, it is more important as the collection and the year it belongs to.
The iconic Bomber Jacket from Raf Simon’s ‘Riot, Riot, Riot’ Collection. (Image Courtesy
In contemporary fashion, Raf Simons is one unmissable fashion designer, he has the approval of many other designers as well as rappers, and is inclined toward youth and streetwear culture. His famous bomber jacket “Riot, riot, riot!” presented during his fashion show fall/winter 2001, was inspired by a punk theme and various music influences. The Raf Simons archive took an important turn since this bomber jacket is today worth over £47,000.
It is archive history.
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