Sea and Be Seen: Charting Fashion’s Love Affair With the Ocean

The Spring ’15 runways fairly teemed with marine life and seafaring motifs. Valentino’s Maria Grazia Chiura and Pierpaolo Piccioli sent out sheer dresses embellished with starfish, shells, and fiery pieces of coral. At Rodarte, the Mulleavys plumbed the possibilities of tidal pools and came up with an ethereal shipwreck of a collection, replete with filmy fishnet and sea urchins. Even Anthony Vaccarello grounded his signature sex appeal with brass anchor accents and porthole grommets. And that’s to say nothing of the countless takes on marinière stripes and sailor pants spotted on the runways of New York, Milan, and Paris.

Rodarte

In fact, there was so much sea life on the runways, we couldn’t help but wonder if designers were offering an oblique commentary and even a lament of sorts regarding the state of our planet. And for good reason. Just last week, a U.N. panel issued its direst warning yet: Unless drastic carbon emissions are enacted soon, we face the flooding of major cities and entire island nations, not to mention global food shortages and mass extinctions of plants and animals.