While fast fashion and its accelerated consumption have shaped the last few decades, its counterpart, slow fashion, focuses on the thoughtful purchase of timeless and versatile clothing, is gaining ground and raising the awareness of brands, designers and even social networks for small details and quality .
Concepts such as “capsule wardrobe”, “333 rule” or “circular fashion” are growing at the same pace as affordable, mass-produced giants such as the brands Shein or Temu. Slow fashion advocates “less is more,” a motto attributed to Gabrielle Chanel.
“We notice more interest and consideration when choosing which pieces to buy. “Success used to be having a lot at a very good price and now the trend is starting to change: less of better quality,” Margarita Ruyra de Andrade and Valentina Suárez-Zuloaga, founders of the Spanish platform Es Fascinante.
Mother and daughter launched this fashion community in 2018, where they are dedicated to representing brands that focus on sustainable processes and signature design, created according to the standards of slow fashion, one from the United States imported concept that they pioneered in Spain is now making its way on a large scale.
“Quiet luxury and the return to timeless quality clothing are here to stay,” they say from Es Fascinante, where they note a notable shift in consumer trends. “The most difficult thing was to talk about the quality and what was made in Spain, no magazine had enough response,” they say about their origins.
Five years later, “they all offer and communicate, primarily 'online', the opportunity to purchase interesting pieces made in Spain,” explain the creators, who offer the “product selection” section in their community in which they promote pieces timeless and versatile that can be easily combined with each other.
On this basis, the combination of basics and the exploration of possibilities, the “333 rule” also begins and becomes a viral trend on the TikTok platform, a niche for younger generations like Z, in which sustainable consumption also finds its place. gap thanks to these types of trends.
With this rule, a small wardrobe is put together from three tops, three bottoms and three different shoes, a total of nine items of clothing, with which more than twenty outfits can be generated from different combinations.
In general, this type of garment is characterized by having a simple and timeless cut, in line with that of last year's emerging brands, temples of simple garments and high quality materials that are versatile and durable.
“Less is more is a new lifestyle that brings physical and mental order, that helps us in our daily life and with which we also manage to achieve goals and objectives,” explains Begoña Pérez, better known as “La ordinatrix” , a reference in order at the national level in the wake of Marie Kondo.
For Pérez, one of the most renowned professional organizers in Spain, “society is moving towards ecology, utility, giving clothes a second life and living a healthier lifestyle to feel good inside and out.” is in the housed in cupboards.
Compared to pieces with eccentric cuts and bold trends, basic garments in neutral tones and high-quality fabrics are on the rise among different generations, an ode to minimalism that is also synonymous with sustainability.