Elisabet Coll-Vinent: "Dressing like a posh person is overdone."

"I have always dressed by imitating others," says Elisabet Coll-Vinent at the beginning of I want to dress like you (now books), an essay in which she reflects on authenticity and imitation, the individual and the collective, and in which she invites us to develop a greater understanding of fashion to better understand ourselves and the society we are part of.

What does the clothing I wear tell you?

— The blazer projects formality, but you break that up with jeans, which give it a different feel. When you get dressed, you're making a decision that you want to communicate.

The phrase reminds me of a scene fromThe Devil Wears Prada.

— Anne Hathaway said she didn't care about clothes, and Meryl Streep gave her a piece of her mind. There's a whole industry behind what we wear. When someone tells me they're not interested in fashion, I always think: fine, but don't think you don't care about anything.

Why do we dress the way we do?

— For two reasons: to mark our personality – and therefore, individuality – and at the same time to be part of a group, so that when the other person sees us, they understand certain things about you.

Isn't it contradictory to want to assert individuality and want to be part of a group?

— This is the dichotomy. Appearance has a super-individual aspect and is related to the ego, but at the same time there is the collective aspect, and I think this doesn't receive enough attention: the need to fit in and, at the same time, to differentiate oneself.

You say we strive to be authentic.

— That's what fashion sells you, but it's impossible, because trends quickly run out and soon what makes you feel authentic is brought in by other people.

If we're not authentic... do we dress like imitators?

— Yes, to the people we like, the ones we aspire to be like…

The way we dress is a way of saying what social class we belong to.

— Fashion was born with that objective: to classify. From the social strata of the Middle Ages to the bourgeoisie, distinguishing themselves from the working class. But today, it has evolved so much that even brands like Gucci are appropriating urban aesthetics.

You give an extreme example of Louis Vuitton.

— They were inspired by the bags that sub-Saharan Africans carry to transport goods and transformed them into a luxury product. They did this when Marc Jacobs was at the helm, revolutionizing the brand.

As?

— He anticipated the idea of ​​seeking out and appropriating things from the working or even marginalized classes. And he saw that copying was what could be fashionable at a time when the authenticity of the unique would have been exhausted.

Is copying in fashion?

— People without purchasing power are demanding their own copies. It's a way of saying: I too can dress like wealthy people without spending 2,500 euros on a handbag.

But it's frowned upon to dress like preppy?

— I wouldn't say it's frowned upon, but it is somewhat worn out.

How did you see a preppy today?

— It's different in every place. In Barcelona, ​​we're afraid to say we're interested in fashion because we think it's frivolous or superficial. That's why it's a place where almost everyone falls under the label of "modern."

And what does this mean?

— Everyone pretends they don't really care about fashion, and we all look pretty much the same with some differences: there's the trendy one, the slightly trendy one chav, the modern hippie, a prick modern…

What's the difference between them?

— Tight pants with a dress over them are more fashionable. chavs and posh girls They share some things, because now you might find that some wear leopard print so as not to look so posh girls.

And the posh girls authentic?

— The real ones don't need to prove anything. They can wear jeans and a white t-shirt. But a lot of money has been spent.

Is it quiet luxury?

— This is the trend we're seeing now. Everything is quite beige, standard, without any colorful accents or shapes, and without the brand logo on the sweater.

Does that respond to the luxury crisis?

— Yes, the luxury sector found itself at one point saying: if we want to keep selling, we have to make things that are very wearable. If people are no longer paying for extravagant or outrageous things, we have to tell them that a turtleneck sweater that costs money is a future investment because they can wear it for twenty years.

This is normcore?

— He normcore It's the trend that became fashionable around 2013 or 2014, which also rejected the idea of ​​having to dress differently. It championed very "normal" and basic garments. What happens? Fashion then becomes very boring.

Is it related to the economic system?

— When you're in a recession, everything tends toward conservatism. In the 1920s, there were sequins and fringes, and after the 1929 crash, there was a return to straight skirts, tailored suits, and something more stable. It's like saying: no one should dare to express strong personalities or ideas.

What must fashion do now to be groundbreaking?

— Uniforms.

Uniforms?

— It always seems like fashion has exhausted everything, but it always has an ace up its sleeve, and I think right now that ace is uniforms. The groundbreaking thing now isn't selling the individuality of a unique piece, but taking the uniform and making repetition the fashion.

Would you and I wear the same clothes?

— I don't mean it literally, but on the Prada runway we saw them open with uniforms. You don't have to go around dressed as a plumber or a nurse, but they do raise the question: what do we need to feel part of a group? Why must we share identifying characteristics with those with whom we share space or friendship?

How will we dress in the future?

— Trend forecasters are anticipating a complete shift towards functionality in the weather over the next five to ten years. Waterproof jackets, sun hats, bags with plenty of pockets—in short, pieces designed to help you survive, for example, the 50-degree heat that Barcelona can reach.

Who do you like to dress?

— Look, one influencer Catalan, Juliana Canet, because I understand that she uses fashion to have fun and even make political statements.

Because?

— She always combines pieces that seem to make no sense, even contradict each other. It's as if she's telling us, "I don't want to dress the way I'm supposed to, the way the industry tells us to, I want to have fun." And she might suddenly go with a short blue in winter, or rain boots (whether it rains or not).

And what do you think of such an important icon right now as Bad Bunny?

— His style choices have a huge impact. He wore Zara to the Super Bowl. What does that mean? That Zara is repositioning itself, and in some way is trying to make it understood in Latin America that... fast fashion European style is something they can also aspire to. Perhaps he should have worn a Puerto Rican designer… I don't know. But he sparks this debate, which isn't about the clothes themselves, but about the cultural impact of his stylistic choices.

Rosalía.

— Five years ago we were in the Motomami era, with long nails, the clean lookLeather jackets and biker style. And now she's got a mystical vibe that's linked to the simple, fluid aesthetic that's so characteristic of today's cultural spirit. I'm very interested in what she's doing, and I think she's very well advised. The other day at the Chanel Brit Awards, I was thinking: absolutely.

Because?

— It's the brand that's really taking off right now. It had stagnated for a while, but now, since Matthieu Blazy joined the team, it's back in style. And dressing a brand is a smart move. trendy. 

Is a taste for aesthetics narcissism?

— I don't think so. It's clear that we care about how we project ourselves to the world, partly because of the aesthetic pressure we receive from the outside. If you inflate your ego and are only concerned with that, well, that's pure narcissism. But fashion isn't just that.