WHY IS FASHION SO INFATUATED WITH BONDAGE?
If fashion really does run in twenty-year cycles, then now is the time for the return of bondage – if it ever left.
WILL BONDAGE RETURN?
FASHION'S 20 YEAR CYCLE:
Fashion historian James Laver was the first to propose the notion of fashion’s twenty-year trend cycle. Using this as a rough guide, we’ve looked back to the years between 1984 and 2004, a period in which Truss Archive has charted over 300 garments with the word ‘bondage’ in their title. We’ve explored the what, why and how of fashion’s history with bondage.
VIVIENNE WESTWOOD'S SEX BOUTIQUE
In 1974, Vivienne Westwood opened her Sex boutique on London’s King’s Road, it had been inhabited by the designer and her creative and romantic partner Malcolm McLaren under various names from 1971, and epitomised punk fashion in the 70s. Between 1976 and 1980, the pair’s Seditionaries personal collection paired military wear with bondage straps and kink wear. Belts of fabric could bind knees together, and legs to elbows, where they pulled taught enough. Vivienne Westwood’s Gingham Bondage Trousers from Spring 1984’s “Hypnos” collection, complete with zips running from the ankle to seat and dual straps, is a token example of fashion’s take on the bondage trouser.
A NEW ERA OF FETISH-WEAR & BONDAGE
Two decades later, Jean Paul Gaultier, Helmut Lang and Dolce & Gabbana would take on Westwood and McLaren’s bondage-inspired punk uniform as inspiration across multiple seasons. “Fetish wear has emerged into the daylight after economic downturns or major events”, wrote the Guardian’s Priya Elan in her article In Control, at the time Vivienne Westwood was designing her first bondage collections, unemployment was high, the troubles in Ireland were ramping up, and in 1982 Margaret Thatcher sent the British to the Falklands. The late 90s and early 2000s saw the Asian Financial Crisis (1997), the beginning of the Al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen, and The Afghan Civil War (1996) – which led to the war in Afghanistan and the war on terror (2001). It’s no surprise then that themes of bondage in fashion arose once again during this time.
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BONDAGE FROM OTHER DESIGNERS
Helmut Lang’s bondage items are the most prolific of all designers on the Truss Archive app, Autumn Winter 2003’s Aviator Bondage Chaps bear resemblance to Westwood’s gingham bondage trousers and look straight out of a photographer Robert Mapplethorpe’s universe. The collection featured military bomber jackets modified with bondage-style straps and hardware, and bondage harnesses and rigs as accessories.
Dolce & Gabbana’s Autumn Winter and Spring 2003 collection is coveted in the archive fashion scene for its defining appropriation of military wear with kink detailing. Sadist and Masochistic style inspiration and Tactical wear were reflective of the tense climate of the time, charged by political and economic unrest. The garments fashioned were unlike the eponymous house's previous work.
Takahiro Mashito’s punk label Number (N)ine, Comme Des Garcons, Hussein Chalayan and Raf Simons are among other notable names who have produced bondage-style clothing during the late 90s and early 2000s.
What do we expect for the upcoming menswear seasons? More wraps, straps and chains. With the cost of living ever increasing, and the Russia-Ukraine war showing no signs of stopping, we could see a post-pandemic bondage boom.