Fashion Embraces 'DISCO'

With stay-at-home restrictions on the rise and England heading into its second lockdown, there is a surprising renaissance taking place in fashion and culture: disco.

Days before Kylie Minogue releases her new album, Disco, on Friday, John Lewis has unveiled its Christmas collection featuring a “kitchen disco two-piece” (a sparkly sweatshirt and joggers). The legendary Terry de Havilland label has announced its Disco collection featuring platform-heeled shoes in bold Studio 54 referencing colours.

It follows mega brands such as Balenciaga, Oscar de la Renta and Etro, which all featured dancefloor-ready looks in their autumn/winter collections. Meanwhile, this season’s couture collection from Valentino featured silver showgirl outfits that nodded to Donna Summer. “When the world is at its most serious we [move towards] shallow pleasure,” said the Grazia columnist Paul Flynn.

For Terry de Havilland’s label, the collection is a throwback to the start of disco. “Terry’s big break was in the 60s,” said the brand’s managing director, Darren Spurling, “but his first store in London’s King’s Road opened in 1972 and those iconic stacked platforms and high heels were the original disco trends of the 70s.”

The bedazzled look has been infiltrating the charts too, with Róisín Murphy and Miley Cyrus referencing the haircuts and looks of Dolly Parton, Barbra Streisand and Debbie Harry from the era. And a week after Minogue’s album, Sophie Ellis-Bextor releases Songs From the Kitchen Disco.