Brands are moving from fast to ‘forever fashion’ – but are new clothes ever sustainable?
Fashion has a new trend for spring. Well, of course it does – that’s how fashion works. Except this time round, the trend isn’t crimson or corduroy, or Peter Pan collars or platform shoes. The hot look for spring 2022 is the “forever wardrobe”. The key pieces of the season are clothes that come with the promise that they will never go out of style: think crisp white shirts and well-cut blazers; classic knitwear and timeless little black dresses. Throwaway fashion is so last season. This spring, chic comes with a lifetime guarantee.
The irony is that the forever wardrobe never went away, it just went out of style. The fast fashion industry, which exploded in the last 30 years, turbocharged the trend cycle, abandoning the principles of enduring elegance in favour of a rollercoaster of plot twists (woah, jumpsuits!), comebacks (Crocs) and about-turns (black is back, again) designed to keep an audience hooked. Bored of your jeans? Why not try leather trousers! Throw out your neutrals, it’s the season for neon!
Many stylish people ignored this all along, of course – even inside the fashion industry, where the front row cheerleads for apple green one season and salmon pink the next, while continuing to mostly wear navy. Now, an urgent need for sustainability has brought investment dressing back into the spotlight. But can fashion ever really come without an expiry date? Or is forever fashion just a feelgood label to make us feel better about buying new clothes?
On an emotional level, the change of heart is real, among both the people who buy clothes and the people who design and make them. Fashion is about the future; without a future for the planet, there is no fashion. Everybody gets that now. But on an economic level, things
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