The Laundry Room

It is easy to gravitate towards all things pretty and pleasant. With Spring coming to full bloom, fairy tale florals, flounce and frill once again make that much-anticipated (yet rather predictable) comeback in the form of sucrose sweet smock dresses and dainty dollhouse pieces plucked from decks of roses and peonies. These are few of the things that are definitive of the festive spirit the season imbibes. This year, however, Spring brings to light a myriad of looks that stage the varied lives and style preferences of today’s fashionable set. The face-paced lifestyle of today’s individuals prompts the creatives behind the most captivating runway shows to make this season the fitting venue for high-concept active wear. While posh and chic hardly equate to trainers and tracksuits, this year’s Cruise collection from Louis Vuitton synthesizes easy sportswear-inspired pieces — anoraks, drill pants, washed-out parachute silks, drawstring ruching, quirky sweaters and suspended silhouettes — with essentially quixotic elements to create a look that champions what designer Marc Jacobs refers to as "beauty, despite everything."

Sure, this season’s offerings may, at one point or another, veer away from what is quintessentially ideal and picture-perfect — clear blue skies, outsized blossoms, spirited shades and playful prints. The appeal of pieces that instead dare to take inspiration from a gloomy day, the less-than-glamorous life waltzing around the city streets or cruising your way through bleak weather, however, lies in the brilliant patchwork that merges romantic frou (taken from ballet tulles and other elements dominant in Degas masterpieces) with functional sport, smart casual amidst fundamental aesthetic.

The no-frills, out-of-bed, fresh-off-the-hamper temperature set by the advent of stylishly streamlined Parka dresses, stripped toppers and Olympic references beautifully executed by influential fashion industry players like Marni, Dries Van Noten and Jean Paul Gaultier, among others, offer a new take on fashion which is anything but an anti-thesis to fashion. Consider the high-energy influx of sporty pieces to be a young and refreshing alternative that may appear simple, even homely, only upon first glance. Nonetheless, these revolutionary pieces stand out easily through ingenious cut, sharp and captivating shots of sporty elements and modern treatment to the timelessness of Spring’s neutral grounds. Inarguably, there is a certain degree of shock value to a courageous absence of theatrics and outright dismissal of deck fluff especially in a time when rainbows, ribbons and roses are most expected. But what draws many to the new attitude this year in fashion imposes lies in the idea that unorthodox ingenuity took real life, less-than-grand laundry room elements, spinning each to create a contemporary collection that chronicles what was once mundane into something of note.

(E-mail the author at bianca.salonga@gmail.com)