Into The Fashion is a trend blog run by German-born, Milan-based, Diana Marian Murek. A fashion designer who has worked with such style heavyweights as Costume National, Wolford and Francesco Scognamiglio, Murek also occasionally works as a fashion
Into The Fashion is a trend blog run by German-born, Milan-based, Diana Marian Murek. A fashion designer who has worked with such style heavyweights as Costume National, Wolford and Francesco Scognamiglio, Murek also occasionally works as a fashion journalist reporting while also lecturing at the Istituto Marangoni, a fashion design school with campuses in Milan, Paris and London. Her speciality lies in being able to comprehensively analyse trends in an insightful way, which she has cemented on her blog, Into The Fashion, since founding it only a year ago. Into The Fashion now receives an average of 10,000 visitors per month.
What prompted to you start your blog?
Partly I started it for my students. I wanted to explain how important it is to study costume history for understanding today's fashion, and it was important for me to explain that in an amusing way without being too academic. I started to post similarities of outfits from the past to contemporary collections taken from the catwalks. What I'm willing to point out is that fashion lives in cycles, and that this is the nature of fashion. That's why I call my comparisons “inspirations” and not “copying”. A huge part of the language of fashion has been defined during the 20th century; every silhouette, colour combination or material has a meaning that has already been established and belongs to a period of time, a specific mood or socio-cultural environment. A huge part of today's fashion lives from the reinvention of its past. That does not mean that newness in fashion is not possible, of course it is, the thing is to combine all the known elements of fashion into something new. Doing interesting things today is challenging, and I really enjoy seeing how designers manage to create something that can move us every season again.
How has the blog changed since you first started it?
I realized that information on the internet needs to be traded in a way that is immediate and strongly visual, so I decided to communicate through visual comparisons, instead of written explanations, which I find too subtle for this medium.
Why do you suppose it is as popular as it is?
From the feedback I get I learn that people like to know why specific looks and trends appear on the runway, and where they actually come from. For those who do not work in fashion this mechanism is not always clear.
What specific trends have you noticed for this season and next season?
For A/W10 there are of course the 50s proposed by Prada and Louis Vuitton, together with the minimalist style that has been re-launched by Phoebe Philo since her debut at Céline. For S/S11 we see a mix of the 70s (Marc Jacobs), the 80s (all the YSL inspired collections), the 90s (the minimal collections) and a great amount of vivid colours on the catwalks (Jil Sander/ Prada). Generally a lot of designers' proposals in these seasons collections, were very close to the identity and heritage of the fashion house they work for.
Do you see any particular inspiration points referenced again and again?
Well, this year I could have made at least ten posts about Yves Saint Laurent references, we see them everywhere. This is due of course to the great retrospective at the Petit Palais in Paris. Then, since S/S08 we have seen infinite 80s references each season, which are still proposed now. Other inspirations are coming from great past designers like Roy Halston or Balenciaga – there is always something from them on the catwalks.
Text by Laura Havlin
