Arches are thresholds into liminal space. They signify transition, the movement from one time and geography to another. In architecture, arches serve to lift the eye towards a higher plane or ideal and provide strength and support. In many cultures and geographies in Europe and North America, series of arches, or arcades, became the site for indoor shops and markets. Because of these characteristics, arches provide the perfect metaphor to begin a conversation about the fashion ‘seasonlet’ that we now call Pre-Fall. ‘Seasonlets’, more commonly referred to as Pre-Fall and Resort, are bridges that span the gap between the two main fashion collections that anchor the fashion calendar: Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter.

You may have noticed as I have, that summer has barely begun yet most of the brick and mortars as well as the e-commerce sites are having sales and offering deep discounts on spring and summer clothes, including intriguingly unique pieces from the SS2015 collections.  Yet Autumn/Winter 2015 clothes have not yet arrived. Herein lies the commercial motivation for the development of Pre-Fall collections. The “new arrivals” that are hitting the shopping ‘arcades’ in the last two weeks are clothes from Pre-Fall lines and collections. Usually more wearable, commercially successful and unveiled in less formal ways than full-scale fashion shows (unless of course you are Karl Lagerfeld), ‘seasonlets’ reflect the notion that in today’s global world what we may choose to wear is not governed by season.  For this reason and because of my need to walk on tightropes of in-betweens, I am drawn to many of the pieces shown in ‘seasonlets’. Here I am wearing a piece by Issey Miyake that in fact could be called “aseasonal”.

From an aesthetic, or “lifting the eye”, perspective the ‘seasonlet’ also offers some insight about what the designers might be thinking about for their major collections and allows them more styling and editorial opportunities. Some designers use this as an opportunity to work out ideas and inspirations for the less commercial, more formal and more extravagant runway collections. I have been browsing the Pre-Fall collections for styling ideas and inspiration for Fall posts. There are strong hints of the dark romance that so seduced me when looking through the A/W 2015 collections. A kind of casual glamour, something a little imperfect, something aged but valuable like an heirloom. I’ll share some of my choices in future posts.

As June ends, I have been feeling a very strong sense of being in transition. It has been hard to focus on the everyday. My past routines and structures have broken down and I have yet to replace them with something new. I am traveling this summer through an arcade of arches moving from one time and geography to another. So here I chose clothes that float from the body, indulge my sense of fantasy, reinvents romance and expresses my contradictory desires.

Has clothing ever carried you from “one place to another”?