Are big houses destined to direct fashion?

[Deleted member 141309]

By this I mean absolutely huge giants like Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermes, Dior and Saint Laurent. (can't think of other brands of such scale and power)

There are more niche houses that are iconic like CDG and Rick Owens or Jil Sander, but their scale is not as big. On the other hand, is it just me misobserving or now fashion is always about twisting and mixing cultural aspects?

It is not that there are no brands who do not stick to their language, but it is especially noticeable after Raf's CK.

I feel like collection either become pretty and preppy a la Chanel and Dior (definitely can sense their influence on people like Elie Saab), or vast majority of the brands that try to milk the eclectic intellectual approach a la Prada.

This is no bad by any means (looking at amazing stuff Anderson does at Loewe), but I sincerely feel that mixing and twisting approach is what only Prada has been doing for god knows how many years.

Is this the future - all about mixing?

 

[fashionista-ta]

Big houses tend to be commercial ... I certainly don't think their influence on fashion is outsized, because I'm not sure a lot of them have much or any influence. Ralph Lauren is a big business, but he's not even trying to be directional. Neither is Louis Vuitton ... it was probably more important under Marc Jacobs. Does Chanel influence the direction of fashion? Does anything original happen there? Hermes is certainly not directional. Gucci clearly is under Alessandro.