The Big Apple and the City of Love may have the runway at their feet, but the Midwest makes meaning out of the torrent of colors and whirlwind fabrics that can only be the mass-metamorphoses of fall fashion.
No matter for what gender and for what part of the world, the temperament of the trend empire is a shifting paradox, retaining past fashions but dashing to keep up with the new, the one human commodity that has a human persona itself in its moody tendencies.
"The nature of fashion is that it's a living entity. It's based on looking forward," said professor of fashion design ad merchandising Trent Bush. "People and their interests change and designers scramble to capture them. It's about constant transitions."
RECYCLING THE DECADES
Many style experts place fashion in the context of a figure-eight, an unlimited cycle eliciting predictability yet still as temperamental as human nature.
"There's nothing new under the sun," Bush said. "Everything in the fashion world is remolded and refashioned on the timeline. There's what we call the 20-year cycle. The 70s styles come back in the 90s and so on. Yet now these trends are all simultaneously cycling and coming into play at the same time."
Assistant Professor of Fashion Design and Merchandising Paula Sampson, who has worked with Ball State fashion students in setting up seasonal trend displays for almost two decades, observes the transforming vogue firsthand.
"The cycle theory has held true, but now these cycles are moving faster and faster," Sampson said.
Clues point to the fashion cycle's appearance of accelerating and simultaneously shooting off in different directions at the same time, which begs the question: is this universal force of culture spiraling off its axis?
"I think it's politics," Alyssa Marcheleta, senior apparel design major, said. "Everything's been so serious and uptight and people are ready to let go. In the past, like in the 80s and 90s, it was about what status you are, what market you are. People are less concerned of that now."
This could also be an effect of the explosion of information defining the 21st century.
"Fashion has gone global," Bush said. "Instead of looking at the couture of France, we look at every reach of fashion. From art to media, its effect is eclectic."
Flipping through the 758-page Vogue September fall fashion issue, men and women can see Burberry's tweed fever, Bebe's wool fringe-fest, Versace's wild style in vivid purple hues and buoyant fur collars, Diesel's racy leather lace-up craze and Tommy Hilfiger's prep-school menswear. Eras clash for dominance of the season's official "retro" style on the glossy magazine pages.
"I was talking to a friend and saw them reading the Vogue September issue," Marcheleta said. "I took a look at it and was like ‘Is this from this year? It looks like it's from 1960 or 1970.' The 1970s street-wear look is loose and laid-back, and then there's that liberal avant-garde."
"This season, fashion is taking more liberties, the concern is not with fitting in," she said.
Playing on the opposite court for fall is the timelessness of 50s flowing gowns.
"That's what real women wear," Marcheleta said. "The idea that classic pretty dresses and long flowing shapes is what a woman is supposed to be is historical. I love the vintage looks. I've always been inspired by the past, of the things that lived before me."
ADDING A POP OF COLOR
One thing is sure: there is no chromophobia on fall's frontlines.
"We are moving away from neutral safe colors that have dominated past fall seasons. Brighter colors are dominant," Taylor Groft, junior apparel design major, said. "People are bored; fashion is fast-paced and people are always trying to shock. It's time for color to pop back in."
Extremes are a theme, with some couture reaching scandal. With lace-up corsets and tight leather emerging, Bush calls it the fetish trend.
"It's a little too avant-garde for wearing on the street," he said.
Yet the boldness of the autumn runway isn't only visible on two-dimensional bound pages. Strolling through the Muncie Mall is a living market place to witness the trends.
"Zig-zag and spiral prints are huge," Charlotte Russe manager Shannon Croy said. "There are a lot of bright colors, especially coral. Compared to the normal subdued past fall solids featured in the store, there's a lot more patterns and colors."
Macy's, though a retailer to several brands, sticks close to what's trending on the runway, especially with the teen-college student lifestyle.
"The biggest trend I've noticed for fall is versatility. It goes with layering, to have multiple outfits in one piece, which also appeals to the value shopper," Macy's executive manager Ralph Frantzreb said.
Though layering, texture and color aren't the only elements of fall fashion. Pam Caudell of Macy's perfume sales notices shoppers' tendency to ditch florals and citrus scents for warmer, spicy notes.
INCORPORATING THE EXTRAS
Bath and Body Works takes a literal note of fall with scents called "Autumn," "Leaves," "Fireside Marshmallows," "Pumpkin patch" and "Apple Cider."
"They are a huge seller and really popular," sales associate Holly Hemmelgarn said. "The style is a mix of woodsy and sweet. It's the smell of the outdoors and gets you ready for fall. Who doesn't love jumping in the leaves?"
Master Cut's manager Nikki Gard notices customers tailoring their hairstyles with their threads, noting that bold caramel and red-brown combinations are a popular dye trend for this season and bright decorative feathers slipped into tresses are in. For men the euro-hawk is riding in with 80s retro styles.
"You wouldn't want a plain Jane hairstyle when you have all new clothes," Gard said. "It wouldn't make sense to be up to date on clothes styles and not on your hair style."
Ann's Nails, a manicure shop in the mall, is also watching the trends.
"People aren't asking for flower designs but leaf details now. Also, purple and neutral colors are big," manicurist Rose Bui said. "People want their nails to match their scarves as well."
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