Step Dance On Runway

I recently posted an interesting video on my Facebook page. It was Rick Owen’s Spring 2014 collection fashion show from Sept 2013. Interestingly, his models weren’t slim, tall and fair. They were black and had real bodies. They did not do the regular catwalk. They were not required to look pretty. They had their faces angry and gritty. They bared their teeth and looked ferocious while they performed the step-dance. Their energy was violent. It is indeed a captivating video.

Stepping is an old form of dance that originated in Africa. It is an aggressive dance in which the dancer’s entire body is used to create rhythms through footsteps and hand clapping. This dance is usually performed in groups.

African tribal men used this dance to attract and impress women. Their step-dance involved rolling their eyes and baring their teeth. More aggressiveness was considered more attractive.

Step-dance was very popular in American Universities amongst African-American students. Today, there are stepping dance groups and competitions.

The point of all this is that fashion picks up lot of things from history. History repeats itself. We see how trends of sixties and seventies keep coming back; how vintage is totally in suddenly. If you go back and look at how people dressed in 3000 BC in various dynasties, you will see familiar designs. Many of today’s styles have been picked up from there.

Rick Owen’s Spring 2014 sportswear collection is called ‘Vicious’. His way of presenting his collection through vicious step-dance has been very innovative and made everyone sit up and watch.

You MUST watch the video. It is spectacular.

We were shown this video in our History of Fashion class.