The New American Look

Americans may be finally dominating fashion

For the first time in fashion history, Americans are dictating the trends: Virgil, Rihanna, Kanye, Todd Snyder, Teddy Santis, Kim Kardashian, Kendall Jenner.

Sure, before them, there were Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Donna Karan, Anne Klein, Halston, Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta, Stephen Burrows and the famous Battle of Versailles. And they were all influenced by Bonnie Cashin and Claire McCardell, who created the American Look that feels as breathlessly modern today as it felt when it first appeared.

They all inspired and influenced the fashion system. But they didn’t change it.

The change happened only recently when the fashion system was first forced to stop ignoring popular culture, and then to put this pop culture in its center. When Vetements made post-Soviet punk its aesthetic, it was really riffing off on the urban American looks (hoodies, sweatpants) that Soviet teenagers were copying and making their own. When Dior launched its ‘“political knits,” it was really reflecting Cashin and McCardell’s designs that, 70 years earlier, freed women to move and work and live their lives unconstrained by Dior corsets. Cashin and McCardell’s made their clothes practical, functional and versatile through separates, layering and day-to-night looks. Other brands soon followed, turning American cultural language — workwear, streetwear, sportswear — into their couture.

We now have haute workwear and couture streetwear at Dior and luxe sportswear everywhere else. Number one item for Q1 2021 on Lyst’s quarterly ranking of fashion’s hottest brands and products was Gucci GG x The North Face. The most searched items are Yeezy slides.

Until six years ago, it was inconceivable that Dior would sell T-shirts or that sneakers and puffers would be the hottest fashion items. The shift is as meaningful as it marks the breakdown of fashion genres. Just like it’s increasingly hard to define music genres (as this year’s Grammy’s testify) and corresponding fandom identities, it is equally hard to label something “luxury” or “workwear” or “street” in fashion. It’s one big sartorial blur.

In this blur, the brands that stand out are brands that define their own cultural language. Cultural language is an aesthetic mix…