Let's Get Loud: The Return Of Maximalism
When I was 17, I was voted the ‘person most likely to be the next Donna Karan’ in my school-leavers’ yearbook. Although my well-meaning classmates may not have chosen quite the right designer for my actual style wavelength (no offence to the inimitable Donna, of course), what they meant to say was: ‘Susie is into her fashion.’ Or rather, ‘We don’t quite understand why she comes to sixth-form history class in a Victoriana blouse, two vintage slip skirts, stripy legwarmers and Buffalo trainers.’
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To me, more has always been more. From the moment I had full control over what I could wear, I messily rainbow tie-dyed every plain garment in sight. One skirt was not enough – I had to layer three. Was there a way of pairing powder blue, mint green and candy pink all at once? Of course! Could an outfit visually balance out five prints? The answer was always yes. When I was finally able to afford to buy my own clothes, I routinely gravitated towards the most ornate garments, the broadest and brightest colour palettes and the maddest textures on the rails. Maximal dressing has been my source of refuge in the face of difficulty, sadness and insecurity. When people talked about dopamine dressing post-pandemic, I could smugly turn to my hyper-stimulating wardrobe for an instant hit.
Thanks to Alessandro Michele’s return to fashion this season as creative director at Valentino, maximalism is (in reliably cyclical fashion) back. Once again, we are at liberty to flounce in vintage-inspired layers, paying homage to Valentino’s heady history of big bows, lace and polka dots that feels very on the nose. Think of the 1980s excess as depicted in Rivals, the hit Jilly Cooper television adaptation. Nicolas Ghesquière has never been one to shy away from maximal expression, and at Louis Vuitton he challenged us with the single-trouser-leg/dress hybrid. At Saint Laurent, Anthony Vaccarello looked to the house’s archive and struck gold with clashing, vibrant jewel-tone silks and satins. Jonathan Anderson had us bouncing to his beat of 19th-century hoop-skirted dresses and iridescent lacquered feathers at Loewe. The greatest manifestations of maximalism are those that make you believe you could potentially traipse around Tesco wearing these extreme ensembles.
But did maximalism ever really go away? Fashion has a constant need to declare trends with emphatic sweeping headlines. I eye-rolled when countless articles extolled the ‘discreet’ virtues of ‘quiet luxury’, spurred on by the heat of the final season of Succession; once you start name-dropping brands and layering up in oatmeal cashmere, it isn’t really quiet or discreet anymore. Further back, remember ‘normcore’, which was coined in 2013 (by a trend agency no less)? Maybe the simple truth is that some people gravitate towards layers of neutral-coloured cashmere and nondescript hoodies... and some people really don’t...
With every anti-fashion, pseudo-minimalist trend declaration, there will inevitably be an immediate reaction and backlash that refuses to disengage with the full buffet of what fashion has to offer – colour, print, texture, fabrics and exuberant shapes. But these are the things that make fashion such a rich tapestry. Moreover, what’s maximal depends on your vantage point. Even in the canon of supposed minimalist Phoebe Philo, there are maximal moments – feather-edged trousers with curved cut-outs for instance (they sold out in an instant). Matthieu Blazy, who once worked for Philo at Celine has made Bottega Veneta his own with his brilliant knack for fun textures that draw the eye in and celebrate craft. Maximalism goes beyond trendy labels and aesthetics; rather, it’s an attitude that consistently fuels sheer creativity and experimentation.
I’ve often said I would be a financial liability if I were ever to be a buyer for a department store or boutique. I’d choose the most extra-looking things that invariably have no commercial viability – the ‘show pieces’, as we call them in the industry – in the hope of convincing people that, yes, they do need a Simone Rocha panto-pink mini-crini dress in their lives. But people such as Annie Doble, purveyor of one-off vintage pieces and designer of OTT occasionwear from her store Annie’s Ibiza, has captured a loyal audience of admirers who only want extravagant attire. At her treasure-trove boutiques in Ibiza and London, maximalism reigns supreme. ‘I designed a little black dress in my last collection, but I couldn’t sell it. It just doesn’t work,’ she tells me. ‘My bestsellers are our most outlandish pieces.’
For a while, Instagram and its algorithm heralded a uniform wave of influencers in their layers of perfectly articulated beige, with their matcha lattes and workouts. TikTok gave way to imperfection and irreverence in social-media content that meant individual style triumphed once again. Eve-Lily Charlotte, a self-coined ‘maximalist cat lady’ based in Manchester, has garnered an audience across Instagram and TikTok for her fearless sense of style, and it has broadened the clichéd scope of so-called influencer style. ‘I’ve always felt like an outcast, and some of my favourite messages are from people who felt they couldn’t dress a certain way because of this other style of influencer; they say that seeing my looks gives them the confidence to break out of their shell,’ she says.
Maximalism doesn’t always have to be a high-octane visual gesture that’s restricted to red carpets and slick reels videos. What might seem like a dramatic return to maximalism on the runway will inevitably filter down as more subtle ways of dressing for our own personal pleasures. That’s the real power of fashion’s manifestations of maximalism: amid ongoing conflicts, shaky economies and an unsettled world order, the joy of pearl-decorated shoes, a delightfully frilly polka-dot tulle skirt or the sheer bravado of wearing pink, red and orange all at once has the unfailing ability to uplift. Even if it is just for one single, frolicking moment.
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