The Utility Edit
Putting the 'fun' in functional.
Utility dressing seems to be one of those trends that doesn’t really go away. While it morphs and changes with the wider fashion industry and the culture that it reflects, there always seems to be some aspect of this approach to dressing sprinkled in somewhere. Whether it is excessive pockets, belts or workwear, fashion is a bit obsessed with practicality.
While this is not true of all fashion, some pieces and designers gain notoriety for being entirely impractical, I think that utility is particularly prominent at the moment. Maybe it’s a recession indicator, or a reflection of the state of the world, but people want their clothes to be functional, easy and effortless.
Personally, I think that this trend ties in very closely with the current resurgence of 90s minimalism. While utility pieces might seem contrary to the clean lines and simple silhouettes of the minimalist movement, these timelines did intersect and I believe that is because the thought behind them was essentially the same. People wanted functional clothes that they could live in, whether that was the jeans and white T-shirt of 90s minimalism or the cargos and leather jackets of utility dressing.
And I think that is exactly why we are seeing these trends crop up at the same time yet again. People want clothes that they can actually live in. People aren’t dressing for Instagram anymore, they have returned to dressing for their real lives. People want ease, comfort and style, rather than just something to pose in and then immediately change out of once you’ve got the photo. We are seeing this sentiment reflected on runways from Alaïa to Prada’s now famous show where the models slowly peeled their outfit back layer-by-layer demonstrating exactly how much you can and should be getting out of your clothes.
I’ve seen lots of people declaring that fashion is ‘fun again’ and I have really been feeling that this is true. But one aspect that I think is being overlooked is the fun of realism in fashion. Seeing the different ways I can wear my clothes in real life excites me, that’s one of the reasons that I loved The Row’s latest collection so much and why so many of NYFW’s SS26 collections appealed to me.
This debate of fun vs functionality is particularly interesting to me with Coachella coming up this weekend. Historically Coachella was the land of flamboyant boho style and was far from practical, but in more recent years it was deemed cooler to dress down. This year, I think the push-pull of practicality and maximalism could bridge the gap between the two, creating some really cool outfits, but we will have to wait and see.
Yes, we are searching for fun in fashion, but we are also longing for realism, and when those two things combine, that’s when it gets really good. The binaries that can be created by pairing maximalist or formal pieces with workwear-inspired ones are really fun. A couple of outfit examples below demonstrate how I would dress this trend up, pairing cargos and technical jackets with sheer blouses and heels to create a real sense of tension within the overall outfit. Even the tension created by pairing something utility-inspired with a flip flop is a great example of something inherently practical vs something less so (even though I would deem flip flops one of the most practical and essential shoes anyone could own, I know this is not the general consensus). And while utility dressing may be rooted in neutrals, I found a really great pair of cobalt blue cargos in this edit, which I think in and of themselves prove that this fun era of fashion is already mixing with this more ‘sensible’ genre.
So, whether you’re a minimalist-chic-dresser or someone who likes to have a bit more fun injected into your look, the utility trend will definitely have something for you. It no longer has to be a question of fun or functionality, we can have both.
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