Since 1973 the platforms have been part of our life, the historical music band Kiss brought them to our visual memories on every single video or tour they made wearing those big platform boots as if they were from outer space or any other galaxy. Sure they used to be a fiction accessory since the last years, becoming a must have for every fashionista or sea punk on Tumblr.
After all the Kiss legacy the Club Kids took place in New York to give a revival to the fiction tendency, the platforms. They became not only a fiction accessory for music bands or any kind of visual marketing, they became part of the street culture as much as techno parties got famous. The 80’s movement not only involves a pair of shoes, it also involved the colorful tendency, mixing brilliant colors and new and unseen materials on fashion brands, holograms and liquid metal textures, which are now part of our era, all over tumblr, pinterest, twitter, polyvore, etc.
When the Club Kids scene was over and gone everything seemed to be lost again, the usual and common outfits became part of the early 90’s, boring sneakers and suits were the new black and so nothing was outstanding as any New York Club Kid.
Lately in the 90’s a new girls band is making noise and calling everybody’s attention, a new wave of screaming children and pop music was about to start, the Spice Girls. These ladies were the reflection of an entire generation looking for pop and color explosions, a way out of the boring 90’s capitalist life and making us part of a world we wanted forever. As saviors they gave platforms a second time around, bringing them back on every magazine, poster or merchandising they sold out. The past took place again in a new movement but now it wasn’t only something to wear for party or to look different, it became a new wave of living, platforms seemed to be the most powerful accessory in the industry.
The history is now reflected on the present, Prada, Meadham Kirchhoff, Dr. Martens and so many fashion brands have made collections based on what someday was a provocative and teen expression, the platforms are now the new black, nobody stays out of this coming back tendency. It has changed the way we used to see them, now the big platforms are not only a fashion object but a way of living, it involves us as a generation that passed through an experimental fashion tendency and now it changes to become part of the industry as important as pants, bags or a t-shirt.
The last Calvin Klein collection Men’s ready to wear 2014 reflects exactly what we’re facing, an old and freaky tendency that have born again not only to stay in women’s fashion but also kids’ and men’s. We found platforms of every shape, tall, color, formal or for street wear. the platforms are now the IT accesory, the bigger, the better.