10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later - How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed?

Ten years is a significant span in a lifetime. In the fashion world, it equates to a geological era. Especially considering that in these times, creative directors come and go with the speed of the wind. However, fashion, as a mirror of its times, undergoes radical changes, influenced by market dynamics, cultural trends, and, as always, the cold, hard cash. As the viral 10 Year Challenge on TikTok is prompting audiences worldwide (including celebrities) to look back at the past decade, we too wanted to take a look at some of the brands that have changed the most over the last ten years. Overall, it's evident that today's fashion is more oriented towards everyday life, whereas a decade ago, the runway featured more formal or occasion-specific attire. Daywear would make its way onto the runway a few years later, at least in the form we know it. Ten years ago, the distinctive identity of various brands was expressed through more subtle and intricate details placed in very classic silhouettes; in recent years, the peculiarities and differences of brands must be more explicit, visible, and, if you will, immediate.

For our comparison, given the crucial criterion of the past ten years, we have compared the most recent fashion shows of each brand in 2023 with their corresponding seasonal shows exactly ten years ago. The seasons we will consider are the last SS24 and SS14 for each brand under examination, combining, for completeness and depending on the case, also the co-ed collections that walked separately.

Burberry

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477320

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477319

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477318

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477317

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477316

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477315

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477314

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477313

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477312

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477311

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477310

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477309

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477308

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477307

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477306

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477305

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477304

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477303

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477302

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477301

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477300

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477299

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477298

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477297

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477296

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477295

10 Year Challenge: brands a decade later How has the aesthetics of five iconic brands changed? | Image 477294

With these two collections we can see very well the change of gear of Marni, which went from eccentricity to anarchy with the change of creative directors. For Consuelo Castiglioni, the Marni woman was rich, cultured and eccentric, the details were kitschy but extremely thoughtful, vaguely agé but dropped into hyper-modern constructions; for Francesco Risso, the Marni woman is definitely less upper-class, equally elegant but fiercely anti-conventional. If in the collection of ten years ago the eccentricity was subtle (kimono-like dresses and sarongs, paired with flip-flops, vintage-flavored floral prints, the perforated leathers), in the current one all the clothes are more everyday and recognizable but are decidedly subversive, with exploding proportions and colors, vivid hemlines, unusual materials such as suede for long skirts, very 1970s groovy details mixed with much more exuberant tailoring.