The Term "Menswear Trend" is Dead
In & Out is W's weekly newsletter rundown of what's necessary to know in fashion and culture, and what you can just let pass you on by. To get it in your inbox every Thursday morning, subscribe here (be sure to check the "In & Out Weekly" box when signing up). This week, we try to figure out whether NFTs are worth wasting precious brain space on, if the term “menswear trend” has any real meaning anymore, and decided whether or not we’ll watch the six-time Oscar-nominated film The Father, the ghost of awards season.
In: NFTs Right Now, at This Very Moment
Out: NFT's Future
What the hell is an NFT? Much of the world has spent the past month trying to figure that out. In textbook terms, it’s a “non-fungible token,” assigning something like a bitcoin to a digital file of any sort (digital artwork, downloadable video game content, a video, even a tweet). While anyone can access the file it represents, only one person can own the NFT. In more cynical terms, it’s a cryptocurrency attempt to monetize and assign economic value to items that might seem to have little in the traditional market. We all know, for example, that a super-viral Tweet or meme holds some sort of cultural value, but that can’t be converted into actual dollars as easily as a traditional painting can. Suddenly, everyone from Grimes to Damien Hirst to Boy George are offering NFTs for sale. Remember that TikTok of a guy drinking cranberry juice on a skateboard listening to Fleetwood Mac? Yeah, he tried to sell it as an NFT, too, (Stevie Nicks, however, reportedly blocked it on grounds that it included her music). While it’s undeniable that market forces have always influenced culture, the current trend seems not just market-driven—but a drive to create entirely new markets. We guess it's understandable considering billionaires and investors regularly treat actual traditional art as little more than a commodity to horde and trade at their whims, but it almost seems like NFT may serve best as criticism of the current art market than a replacement for it: in other words, it's all ridiculous, and unless NFT actually ends up driving new forms and advancing creativity, it’s all sort of boring, too.
In: Diane Keaton’s Style Influence
Out: The Term Menswear Trend
We would kindly like to mention to our fellow fashion or fashion-adjacent journalists that the term “menswear trend” is starting to feel pointless. Yes, clothes meant for those more feminine often borrow ideas from clothes that were, historically, meant for those more masculine, but crossover has been happening for so long and so often that labeling as “menswear trend” is starting to feel, if not outdated, then factually incorrect. Bella Hadid has been caught this winter out and about in baggy corduroy suits, vests and ties, and prep school boy sweaters, but it appears that her recent style inspiration is no man, but rather Diane Keaton. Her BFF Kendall Jenner was also recently spotted in a very “Keaton in the ‘70s” look while out and about in New York City. Later that night she changed into a tuxedo-inspired dress that looked more like something Liza Minnelli would wear. In other words, these things have not been exclusively “menswear” for at least half a century. Whatever the case, the look is certainly in right now. (In related Keaton-as-style-icon news, the star is aware that many people think The Babadook stole her look. Oddly, the look of The Babadook seemed to crop up in recent collections by Thom Browne and Comme des Garçons. Chalk it up to another win for Keaton’s extended style influence!)
In: The Final Oscar Movie of the Year
Out: Emilio Estevez's Non-Hockey Roles
The Father has floated over awards season like a ghost. It’s kept getting nominated for trophy after trophy (including six at the Oscars), and yet the general public hasn’t gotten a chance to see it. Well, the film finally arrives on Video on Demand this weekend. Anthony Hopkins stars as an older man battling dementia while Olivia Colman plays the daughter dealing with it all. There are very fine performances to be found therein, and director Florian Zeller has won plaudits for capturing the realities of dementia in ways more subtle than have been portrayed on film before. In other words, it’s a very respectable Oscar movie.
This weekend also brings two very intriguing music documentaries. On Saturday night, HBO has Tina, the definitive official look at the career of Tina Turner. At 81 and living a quiet life in Switzerland, the film includes what may end up being the last filmed interviews the increasingly private Turner ever gives. YouTube, meanwhile, has the four-part Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil in which the popstar recounts the journey back from her 2018 overdose and the traumas of her Disney Channel days. Otherwise, it’s sort of bleak for series television. Disney + has a new Mighty Ducks show, though, if you’re interested in that. Emilio Estevez is back, baby!
