Why Is Fashion So Obsessed With Horror Right Now?
On the evening of Dilara Findikoglu’s AW24 show, it was an unusually fashionable crowd that turned up for the Sunday service at Saint Michael and All Angels church in Shoreditch. As the congregation of editors and buyers shuffled into the cathedral for the London Fashion Week showcase, the hushed murmur of the crowd eerily echoing between the stone walls.
When the lights came up and sound kicked in, the designer’s neo-gothic looks had the crowd in a chokehold: latex, razor-sharp tailoring and corsets were cinched so tight that models adopted a stealth-like skulk right through the heart of the church. In the show notes for the collection 'Femme Vortex', Findikoglu’s designs endeavoured to explore 'a way of being and feeling that transcends the parochial structures of conventional masculinity,' closing with a hypnotic floorlength black gown titled “Waking of the Witch”. Considering everything - the choreography, location, show release and, of course, the designs - the collection adopted classic horror imagery in all its sinister sexuality, and created reactive, twisted fashion which prompted us to question the very nature of ourselves and, our world.
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Beautifully unnerving in its perfect chaos, it wasn’t just Findikoglu whose muse is the macabre for AW24: GCDS presented hoodies emblazoned with Chuckie motifs and Bride of Frankenstein style wedding dresses, while Charlie Fox's This Young Monster inspired 16Arlington’s collection. In fact, the overarching trends across the entire season were dark and seductive; endless collections featured deep shades of burgundy red and heaps of leather.
As we attempt to navigate the tumultuous socio-political climate, it’s perhaps unsurprising that popular culture becomes an extension of our instabilities. Creatives are experimenting with dystopian themes in artistic mediums as a release, voicing their thoughts on the state of society right now.
Fashion has looked to the world of horror for inspiration before: Alexander McQueen revelled in the imperfect beauty of the grotesque, Rosemary’s Baby was on Raf Simons’ moodboard during his Calvin Klein tenure and Carrie once caught the eye of Jonathan Anderson. But against today’s backdrop of political instability, cost of living crises and the rolling back of women’s rights, the reference takes on a new meaning. As Gudrun D Whitehead and Julia Petrov, authors of Fashioning Horror told ELLE UK, that by physically presenting as something 'scary', we are taking control of ourselves and our environments, dressing in ways to stabilise the world around us.
‘The pace of current events, with their persistent existential threat of violence and death, makes people feel vulnerable. We return to uncanny folktales and myths because they connect us to the past and help make sense of the present,’ consider Whitehead and Petrov. ‘Gothic fashion is reassuring as it relates contemporary anxieties to narratives that are familiar and resolved. Wearing an outfit that references a horror trope communicates that you recognize the evil afoot, but that it can be tamed.’
John Galliano’s Maison Margiela collection delighted in the discomfort. Porcelain-like models wearing corseted ensembles and ghostly veiled gowns moved like marionette puppets, gliding down the runway with a simultaneous stiffness and fluidity. The atmosphere echoed common tropes of the literary horror genre, exploring the unnerving idea of remodifying the state of the human body through sartorial choice, and heightened awareness of the self. (Classic novels like Dracula and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde focus on the encouragement of an inward looking for fictional protagonists and readers alike.)
Significantly, the trend isn’t just reserved to haute couturieres like Galliano and Robert Wun. Season upon season, Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen offer Uncle Fester-style coats and skull adorned knuckle duster bags respectively. Marine Serre’s moon printed logo is still a fashion follower’s wardrobe staple, and you can purchase the Frankenstein cartoon Prada pre-fall 19 collection on MyTheresa. The wearability of horror fashion is becoming more and more accessible.
'We are facing several social and cultural rifts that correspond to the horror of loss of control, and this has created an enduring subculture adopting the dark,' said author and Parsons School of Design professor Otto von Busch.
In the world of film, stylists and costume designers are helping to keep this genre of 'stylish horror' firmly in the spotlight. This spring alone, the campy, neon-swathed Lisa Frankenstein and ornately gory Immaculate starring Sydney Sweeney have brought the aesthetic to life with bold, stylised visuals and fashion that begs to be recreated for Halloween. Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, whose unruly protagonist Bella Baxter can be viewed as a modern day Frankenstein’s monster, took home the award for best costume at this year’s Oscars.
The trend doesn’t look set to slow anytime soon. Next year, Guillermo del Toro is having a stab at Frankenstein with a stylish cast: Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth and Oscar Issac to name a few. The blueprint of horror cinema, Nosferatu, is being given a reboot with ex-Pennywise the Clown Bill Skarsgard and fashion’s favourites, Emma Corrin and Lily-Rose Depp. No doubt, they’ll similarly serve up plenty of styling inspiration that will be influencing our wardrobes for months to come.
'The prospects of the future are grim, if not horrifying,' said von Busch. 'Embrace it. Dress the part.'
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