Creasing up: is ironing a thing of the past

Good news for domestic dissenters: ironing has become unfashionable. An odd move, perhaps, for an industry that celebrates "looking great" but all the same, it’s happening. In womenswear, Céline showed peplumed tops with built-in, boxfresh creases for next season. Hip newish label Vetements’ current collection is consciously creased. In menswear, Italian brand Poeme Bohemien do a great line in crumpled cotton tops and Marques Almeida’s denim generally appears to be un-pressed, as well as frayed at the hems. Pretty Danish teenage indie group, Liss, seem to have cultivated a very specific look that is part ultra-normcore and part crumpled tees. Then there’s the 2016 Pirelli calendar (featuring clothed women!), a hotbed of creases – see Patti Smith and visual artist, Shirin Neshat. High-achieving women making crumpled shirts cool.

Wearing creased clothes isn’t always a choice; that it’s become "a thing" is merely fashion-enabled laziness. This move away from ironing isn’t for everyone.

Tools, or lack thereof, are often the issue. Half of my (mixed gender) colleagues don’t own an ironing board, some choosing to improvise on laminate flooring, on a tea towel or with straightners. GHD straightening, a relatively new phenomonen, is on the up. Observer columnist Eva Wiseman uses her straightners to iron "sleeves" and "baby clothes" and only owns "a sort of travel half-sized ironing board". Guardian fashion stylist, Melanie Wilkinson, doesn’t iron either although she occasionally uses a kettle to steam creases away, a natty trick she picked up on shoots. The rest of us are a creased mess/bang on trend, depending where you stand.

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Jeffrey Goltis, managing director of Savile Rowe, whose suits’ success banks on being perfectly pressed, is horrified: "I do understand the casual look – that distressed, crumpled fabric appearance – but I don’t see this as a trend that will take on. To me, creased clothing suggests laziness. Really, the technology today means there’s no need to wear anything crumpled. Eight out of 10 of the shirts we sell are virtually non-iron. They’re cotton, and go through a pre-curing and dipping process. There isn’t really a reason to wear anything creased – it’s also far more flattering."

For etiquette expert William Hanson, he thinks the problem is that "people aren’t taught to iron. Or they buy a cheap iron and a cheap ironing board which aren’t that effective." Coming from a man who occasionally irons his underwear and once refused to sleep in a bed with un-ironed sheets, Hanson maintains ironing "improves your appearance by 100%. The fact that it’s waning is a pandemic issue."

There is a certain superiority that goes alongside wearing creased clothes. It’s the power humblebrag of fashion – you are too busy to iron, or your mind is on other less-aesthetic matters such as opera or world peace. Plus, perspiration is nature’s own iron – wear a creased shirt to work and within a few hours, it will be less creased.

Maybe it’s less about trends and more about not having the time to. Statistically, we are still ironing, although nowadays many of us are outsourcing it. Prince Charles allegedly gets his shoelaces irons because, presumably, he has the time and the staff. Handy is a London-based high-end cleaning company that also deals with ironing. Since last year, requests for ironing have doubled, mostly among thirty- and fortysomething women with families: "Anecdotally," explains Yvonne Manomano, cleaning operations manager, "among younger customers, there is still a sense that ironing is a soul-destroying chore."

This tallies with an increased demand for non-iron clothing. Ten years ago, Thomas Pink launched its Traveller shirt, which doesn’t need ironing. In the past three months, sales have gone up by 30%. The success of athleisure – leisurewear that you can wear to the pub or even work – could be rooted in the fact that it doesn’t need serious ironing. Ironing isn’t compulsory with Angora, cashmere and wool-mix.

So Céline aside, why is it happening? "I don’t think it’s gender-specific. It’s more that people are too busy on Facebook or Netflix to bother," explains Hanson. "That said, a lot of womenswear is now dry-clean only or trickier to iron. People also don’t make or have the time to do it." He adds: "It depends on what sort of image you want to show. Personally, I think messy clothes equal messy mind."

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