Christian Dior S/S 2021 Paris

[FelipeV]

Also, can we speak about this? smh


elle.com

 

[Aurimas]

Why?

Just a feeling this show gave me. The atmosphere kind of just like at the funeral. And ultimately she has designed so much of the same. I do not believe there is endless market for these same clothes over and over again. After watching for like two minutes I do not understand why she is there. To make Dior brand weaker compared to the rest LVMH brand portfolio? To push forward some political agenda? Why stronger designer has not been picked up for Dior? Excuse me if I get something wrong, her collections seemed interesting for a second because there was something new moving on but after that second they personally do not feel relevant. Her design is a like a short-lived trend, like demonstration that after it is over the crowd starts to disperse and no one cares anymore.

 

[Urban Stylin]

They had me at the ghoul soundtrack. The collection is safe but not hideous IMO

 

[Nomar]

MGC make me cringe and this whole collection is just rubbish.

 

[Cute]

 

[TaylorBinque]

It's just MGC doing her things at Dior as per usual. Literally uninpsired.

 

[Lola701]

Just a feeling this show gave me. The atmosphere kind of just like at the funeral. And ultimately she has designed so much of the same. I do not believe there is endless market for these same clothes over and over again. After watching for like two minutes I do not understand why she is there. To make Dior brand weaker compared to the rest LVMH brand portfolio? To push forward some political agenda? Why stronger designer has not been picked up for Dior? Excuse me if I get something wrong, her collections seemed interesting for a second because there was something new moving on but after that second they personally do not feel relevant. Her design is a like a short-lived trend, like demonstration that after it is over the crowd starts to disperse and no one cares anymore.

She has a 3 or 5 years contract at Dior. If it’s 3, she already renew it, if it’s 5, she still have some collections to deliver!

Her Dior is selling and she is giving a lot of stability after nearly a decade of troubles for the house. Of course there’s an endless market for these clothes! Azzedine Alaia designed and sold for the last 15 years prior to his death the same silhouettes and clothes with different prints and treatment. Since he passed away, the house is still selling the same clothes. I love Alaia so, I’m not mad at it.

Ok, MGC is lazy and she pushes it to the extreme but a woman who enjoy the aesthetic of Dior will find things she likes, things she is familiar with and she can buy Dior without even having to try it.

While I said that there’s an endless market for these clothes, she will eventually leave because at one point, sales stop to go up. You need new creative energy to create press and buzz. You need new creative energy to make people excited to go to Dior and buy it.
Vuitton is very big but Dior and Fendi have still a huge potential to grow!

 

[eugenius]

In recent seasons, the only new item she's introduced to her repertoire is that silly poncho w/ the CD name slapped across the front, but this time, rendered in tie-dye.

I wouldn't necessarily say she's "one-note", but she's certainly not two, that's fershure.

 

[Reggie63]

^ To add to what Lola said, there is an endless market for uninspired clothes because the Dior customer isn't really looking for fashion but rather buying these clothes to buy into a supposed "world". I'd like to offer a illustration of sorts - my overly simplified take of how this brand functions in the luxury industry.

Imagine a typical woman buying into luxury accessories (not fashion). For a lot of key markets, this means French because of the country's haute couture heritage. The typical beginner would buy into Louis Vuitton first. When said woman gets bored with Louis Vuitton, she then is faced with two choices: Chanel or Dior. Hermès would typically present itself after these two options.

This woman would definitely be attracted to Chanel because of the cachet of the 2.55 bag and the "legendary" house codes. Chanel hallmarks are definitely more recognizable to the mass market, since Mlle. Chanel had years to establish said codes, not to mention bang-up job the brand's marketing department does. However, as she soon finds out, quality, customer service and after sales isn't all that great, and at such elevated price points, finds it unacceptable. And with Karl's passing, some customers feel that the brand is going stale.

Then said woman goes to Dior. What she finds is a friendlier luxury shopping environment (mandated by global brand strategy), and discovers a selection of bags that she'd soon realize that has the same (or almost the same) level of cachet as the ones from Chanel at half the price (again, global brand strategy to create value proposition and competitive advantage). But eventually said customer will buy enough bags - it is imperative as a customer retention strategy, to cross-sell the clothing.

Monsieur Christian Dior only had about ten years of output and his most recognizable legacy is the Veste Bar, and, to a lesser degree, the Robe Junon. There really isn't that much to play with in terms of house codes recognizable enough by the mass market to rely on. What Dior needs to execute the aforementioned retention strategy is unremarkable clothes because these need to be (1) not intimidating and (2) appealing to the mass market in order for cross-selling to be an easier proposition. Make these Bar pieces at half the price of the iconic Chanel Tweed Jacket, diversify offerings with t-shirts and entry-level products with some "woke" slogan to appear current and relevant, propose straight-forward, uncomplicated, relatively easier to manufacture dresses (and again, at half the price to those of Chanel) to sell the haute couture dream, and you got winning commercial strategy to increase both sales and market share.

Mary Grace is untalented, but Dior doesn't really need talent to sell "luxury". The brand is powered and finely tuned by MBAs, financial forecasters and big data managers from the likes of HEC or INSEAD. These people have been able to determine a key segment of the luxury market, and was able to finely tune it's pricing strategy and the key product categories that are needed to attract and retain this key segment and actually increase it's market share.

And yes, once the numbers reveal that sales are slowing down for key products and market share is going down, M. Arnault will seek another person to assume the role of creative director. It's a process that's proven effective for LVMH and Kering. Once Mary Grace is gone, I'm afraid, things would not be that much different.

 

[Aurimas]

^

So it is reduced just to calculated strategy and there is no passion and believe in heart. And once the critical mass of people will see that, these businesses will be in serious trouble because when confidence in those brands is completely eroded I will be very hard to restore that confidence back. Actually quite a lot of people are already dissatisfied, at least from what I read.

 

[FashionMuseDior]

^ To add to what Lola said, there is an endless market for uninspired clothes because the Dior customer isn't really looking for fashion but rather buying these clothes to buy into a supposed "world". I'd like to offer a illustration of sorts - my overly simplified take of how this brand functions in the luxury industry.

Imagine a typical woman buying into luxury accessories (not fashion). For a lot of key markets, this means French because of the country's haute couture heritage. The typical beginner would buy into Louis Vuitton first. When said woman gets bored with Louis Vuitton, she then is faced with two choices: Chanel or Dior. Hermès would typically present itself after these two options.

This woman would definitely be attracted to Chanel because of the cachet of the 2.55 bag and the "legendary" house codes. Chanel hallmarks are definitely more recognizable to the mass market, since Mlle. Chanel had years to establish said codes, not to mention bang-up job the brand's marketing department does. However, as she soon finds out, quality, customer service and after sales isn't all that great, and at such elevated price points, finds it unacceptable. And with Karl's passing, some customers feel that the brand is going stale.

Then said woman goes to Dior. What she finds is a friendlier luxury shopping environment (mandated by global brand strategy), and discovers a selection of bags that she'd soon realize that has the same (or almost the same) level of cachet as the ones from Chanel at half the price (again, global brand strategy to create value proposition and competitive advantage). But eventually said customer will buy enough bags - it is imperative as a customer retention strategy, to cross-sell the clothing.

Monsieur Christian Dior only had about ten years of output and his most recognizable legacy is the Veste Bar, and, to a lesser degree, the Robe Junon. There really isn't that much to play with in terms of house codes recognizable enough by the mass market to rely on. What Dior needs to execute the aforementioned retention strategy is unremarkable clothes because these need to be (1) not intimidating and (2) appealing to the mass market in order for cross-selling to be an easier proposition. Make these Bar pieces at half the price of the iconic Chanel Tweed Jacket, diversify offerings with t-shirts and entry-level products with some "woke" slogan to appear current and relevant, propose straight-forward, uncomplicated, relatively easier to manufacture dresses (and again, at half the price to those of Chanel) to sell the haute couture dream, and you got winning commercial strategy to increase both sales and market share.

Mary Grace is untalented, but Dior doesn't really need talent to sell "luxury". The brand is powered and finely tuned by MBAs, financial forecasters and big data managers from the likes of HEC or INSEAD. These people have been able to determine a key segment of the luxury market, and was able to finely tune it's pricing strategy and the key product categories that are needed to attract and retain this key segment and actually increase it's market share.

And yes, once the numbers reveal that sales are slowing down for key products and market share is going down, M. Arnault will seek another person to assume the role of creative director. It's a process that's proven effective for LVMH and Kering. Once Mary Grace is gone, I'm afraid, things would not be that much different.

I love this! I'm a marketing engineer and fashion marketing has always fascinated me.

It's such a shame that there could not be at least some sort of creativity or new propositions, structures, materials, etc to her collections. It's always the same garments with different colors, prints and venue. But then again, Reggie explains perfectly as to why we see the same thing every season.

 

[jeanclaude]

Marketing must be a tool for a brand, but it must no replace the fuel for its engine (creativity)...because in the short run it can work; but as time passes if there is no fuel, the engine won´t be able to keep going on.

 

[WAVES]

‘can you spell Gabbana?’

 

[GoldenPetals]

I can't believe THIS is what Christian Dior has been reduced to. PEASANT DRESSES.

Fashion has become so homogenized. This could be anything from Stella McCartney to Bed Bath & Beyond.

 

[JohannesL]

Nowadays the success of a brand is determined by the marketing machine, and very few people really care about individuality and creativity. It is part of the reasons why we start this conversation in the TFS because a lot of the members in this forum are truly in love with fashion. Maybe the new decade (with the impact of pandemic and socio-political environment) will see the return of something that we miss and cherish in fashion? Who knows when the mass market would be fed up with the aesthetics propelled by those corporate brands!

 

[lightblue]

Eeewww!!!

 

[donyan]

And once the critical mass of people will see that, these businesses will be in serious trouble

I’m not sure if there still is a critical mass, and if so , if these are the people who buy into this cynical , marketing driven version of luxury.
I would say that the Dior client today is the wealthy version of those who buy Zara.

 

[Aurimas]

I’m not sure if there still is a critical mass, and if so , if these are the people who buy into this cynical , marketing driven version of luxury.
I would say that the Dior client today is the wealthy version of those who buy Zara.

Well, if this is a consumer driven industry, this kind of fashion is set by those who have the money today. And once most of the money is spent, there will be a transfer of power to those who got that money, and there should be a change in fashion too.

I think some people buy Zara today because they simply see no reason to pay a lot more for Dior if they get almost the same from Zara anyway. And it does not mean that some of those who buy Zara have less wealth or intelligence than those who buy Dior. Some people just want value for money and there is not much value for money in those luxury brands today particularly when they are reduced just to calculated strategy.

 

[Salvatore]

^ To add to what Lola said, there is an endless market for uninspired clothes because the Dior customer isn't really looking for fashion but rather buying these clothes to buy into a supposed "world". I'd like to offer a illustration of sorts - my overly simplified take of how this brand functions in the luxury industry.

Imagine a typical woman buying into luxury accessories (not fashion). For a lot of key markets, this means French because of the country's haute couture heritage. The typical beginner would buy into Louis Vuitton first. When said woman gets bored with Louis Vuitton, she then is faced with two choices: Chanel or Dior. Hermès would typically present itself after these two options.

This woman would definitely be attracted to Chanel because of the cachet of the 2.55 bag and the "legendary" house codes. Chanel hallmarks are definitely more recognizable to the mass market, since Mlle. Chanel had years to establish said codes, not to mention bang-up job the brand's marketing department does. However, as she soon finds out, quality, customer service and after sales isn't all that great, and at such elevated price points, finds it unacceptable. And with Karl's passing, some customers feel that the brand is going stale.

Then said woman goes to Dior. What she finds is a friendlier luxury shopping environment (mandated by global brand strategy), and discovers a selection of bags that she'd soon realize that has the same (or almost the same) level of cachet as the ones from Chanel at half the price (again, global brand strategy to create value proposition and competitive advantage). But eventually said customer will buy enough bags - it is imperative as a customer retention strategy, to cross-sell the clothing.

Monsieur Christian Dior only had about ten years of output and his most recognizable legacy is the Veste Bar, and, to a lesser degree, the Robe Junon. There really isn't that much to play with in terms of house codes recognizable enough by the mass market to rely on. What Dior needs to execute the aforementioned retention strategy is unremarkable clothes because these need to be (1) not intimidating and (2) appealing to the mass market in order for cross-selling to be an easier proposition. Make these Bar pieces at half the price of the iconic Chanel Tweed Jacket, diversify offerings with t-shirts and entry-level products with some "woke" slogan to appear current and relevant, propose straight-forward, uncomplicated, relatively easier to manufacture dresses (and again, at half the price to those of Chanel) to sell the haute couture dream, and you got winning commercial strategy to increase both sales and market share.

Mary Grace is untalented, but Dior doesn't really need talent to sell "luxury". The brand is powered and finely tuned by MBAs, financial forecasters and big data managers from the likes of HEC or INSEAD. These people have been able to determine a key segment of the luxury market, and was able to finely tune it's pricing strategy and the key product categories that are needed to attract and retain this key segment and actually increase it's market share.

And yes, once the numbers reveal that sales are slowing down for key products and market share is going down, M. Arnault will seek another person to assume the role of creative director. It's a process that's proven effective for LVMH and Kering. Once Mary Grace is gone, I'm afraid, things would not be that much different.

I absolutely loved reading this and could read it over and over again. Thanks for this post !

 

[Creative]

You guys don't support other women! We should all be feminists and support this collection.

Is this for real or irony? Lol