There are certain words that you’ll find in almost any fashion story, however I’ve never heard the word ‘joy’ used to describe clothes until 2020 when designers really examined our emotional connection with what we wear. Clothes not only reflect our mood, but also impact it, and so for SS21 designers from Versace to Molly Goddard used clothes to project a positive outlook.
Halpern used feathers, sequins and exaggerated silhouettes to create some of the happiest clothes you could imagine, and he explained to Vogue at the time: “Fashion should prop people up and give people a break, especially when they’ve been having such a terrible time.” This joviality was shown in many different ways, but Net-a-Porter in its SS21 presentation explained the overall theme: “We saw a sea of bold, bright colours in a multitude of fabrics and textures.”
