Tuesday 14 April 2015

Hanging jacket trend - your time is up

Can you move your arms? Nope, me neither.              






Last year when I went to Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Sydney I was blown away by many sights - i.e. the insanely skeletal models too shocking to look at and the outrageous whacked out outfits that even the local loco bin lady wouldn't wear. But the thing that got me the most was the staggering amount of people all wearing their jackets ON their shoulders.

You know, so not actually with their arms through the sleeves like normal people, but instead hanging precariously on their shoulders ready to fall at the slightest sneeze. Seriously almost every single person, regardless of age or gender, was doing it. And looking oh so smug about it too. 

I knew previously this was a thing, mostly done by celebrities and those in fashion (e.g. Anna Wintour and Victoria Beckham), but to see so many people in one place doing it, and most of them wannabe nobodies? Well just utter craziness.

"Hey everybody, I know fashion! Check out my jacket! See how it hangs? I'm a coathanger, woo!"

And now as we're smack bang in the middle of MBFW again, I'm here to tell you that much to my dismay and disbelief, this trend is STILL HERE.

Recently Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson made an awesome surprise appearance at Valentino's show at Paris Fashion Week to promote the much anticipated Zoolander 2 film. They were in character as spoof male models, Derek and Hansel, and they were wearing - yep you guessed it - jackets hanging over their shoulders. Like so:

Look mum - no arms!


There is a reason they chose this attire people, it looks bloody ridiculous! Yes fashionistas, you are being mocked.

I seriously don't understand why anyone would choose to wear their jacket this way. Not only does it look weird (where are my arms?!), it is hugely impractical. You can't wear a handbag with a strap, and you can barely move your arms or upper body meaning you can't greet people properly or pick up things off the ground.

In my opinion the only time a jacket should be worn this way, is if it's been put there by someone else to keep you warm - such as your boyfriend on a cold walk home, or the old lady at the scene of accident. No other ocassions please!

Is it, is it? Yes it's about to slip off - act casual.
In years to come people are going to look back at photos of the hanging jacket trend, laugh their arses off and say "What were we thinking?" Kind of like, I dunno, hypercolour hotpants?! (Hey I was only 13 at the time, give me a break).

Stay away wind, I'm rocking this look right now.
So just how long is this going to be a thing? Someone needs to try something new, like wrapping a cardigan around their neck like a scarf or wearing gloves as a decorative necklace.

Perhaps the fashion world should start taking their cues from Derek and Hansel? I did in fact see something on the runway today that resembled a giant garbage bag, so you just never know.

  
Photo credits: cocafab; Getty Images; Splash; Details