Tuning In to Fashion's New Techno Wave
From Prada to Off-White, brands are embracing a retro brand of futurism. What does it all mean?
For several seasons now, the 90s rave aesthetic has been having a comeback. Crystallized in Manchester, Hackney and at parallel points in then-desolate Berlin and Detroit, the vibe has found new life from the runways to the real world.
There were Prada’s Fall 2018 men’s and women’s collections, with their fluorescent colors and after-hours uniform essentials. That CALVIN KLEIN 205W39NYC FW18 show where models sported goggles and neon firefighter workwear stripes on jackets that mimicked the roadside work vests ravers co-opted during the early 90s. Sita Abellan sporting electric-blue baby buns and an acid-green and orange Ben Sumpter knit crop sweater.
Hunter Schafer in a hot pink baby doll dress or a mini skirt and shrunken pastel tee on Euphoria. The very ethos of Vetements and Balenciaga (which themselves are heavily influenced by Georgian mass and club style). Martine Rose’s ever-present odes to early British garage and warehouse looks (see the latex pants and the military-tinged knit dress in Fall 2020). And, well, just about every Raf Simons collection ever embodies techno’s darker and more brooding side, but most certainly his recent offerings.
Amongst this ravewear resurrection, we’ve witnessed the rebirth of several key early techno staples.
There’s the return of irreverent, look-at-me neons, for one. Think Virgil Abloh’s current season fluorescent yellow Off-White puffer and matching anorak. An acid pink Vetements one-piece swimsuit that could double as a day-rave bodysuit. A pair of Yeezys given an eye-catching update with neon yellow siding.
Then there is the comeback of outsized, near comically assertive footwear. This includes sky-high platforms, oversized sneakers, and in particular, the Buffalo.
“My parents would never have bought me those ugly shoes,” grinned designer and stylist Maria Koch, who recently created her own equestrian-influenced Buffalos for 032C’s in-house label.
“It was this anti-idea of, ‘This is an ugly shoe! But I’ll get that, and a piercing here,’” said Koch. “I remember when we would all wear machine gun cleansing chains as jewelry. And I come from a very hard left-wing intellectual family and they were like, ‘We did everything wrong! You’re wearing a machine gun thing as jewelry. This is so sick!’ It was completely about emancipation, provocation and all of that.”
That was at its core the attitude behind rave aesthetics: working against; taking something considered ugly or trashy or otherwise unacceptable or mundane and remaking it in your own image. Buffalos were not particularly hip German shoes until they added a platform sole to one model (influenced by German DJ Sven Vath, who gave a pair of adidas a platform). Techno and acid house kids started wearing them to party. The shoes catapulted to mainstream fame when the Spice Girls picked them up. They faded just as rave subculture and Spice-mania subsided.
Now, you see the German brand collaborating with Opening Ceremony (a cherry-red platformed offering) and Junya Watanabe Comme des Garçons (a white high-top Buffalo and a snakeskin version that reads one-part Walmart hunting gear subversion, one-part rave throwback). A Louis Vuitton moon boot for Pre-Fall 2020 sits comfortably within this moment. So do Balenciaga’s fluorescent-hued, now street-style famous Triple S trainers.
The new techno aesthetic pops up in Heron Preston’s reflector-accented tops and camouflage fanny packs, calling to mind the DIY and militaristic references of original ravers.
You can see it in Dion Lee’s sexed-up corset detailing and leather straps for Spring 2020, hinting at the S&M x comic book girl vibe of early 90’s female ravers. These are looks that could fit easily inside a future Berghain, or really anywhere if you sport a healthy dose of irony and irreverence.
Today’s techno apparel is referential—these designers know the culture and in the case of many, lived its history—but resolutely, distinctly modern. There’s a strong argument to be made that the resurgence is not just aesthetic, but reflecting parallel social conditions. We’re on the brink of large-scale youth dissent, rebellion and on some nights, celebratory nihilism once again. There’s something to be said for taking on a dystopian, techy look to match the movement.