Fashion Is Boring ... Have they Run Out of Ideas?

[nqth]

Not just info is spreading, or trends are changing fast. The houses switch seasons. Now you can buy Tshirts from CdG H+ SS06. Polyester jkts for AW05 were sold in summer... Not only Comme does it, of course.

But to know is not the same as to experience:-) Most of the time you have to wear the stuffs, or talk to ppl who create them to understand. This is still v.fascinating.

I don't complain about the "mistery is gone". It easier now to see when the king is naked:-D Fashion is going closer to you and it is more about individualistic style. Of course, if you care:-)

 

[zamb]

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB112683463725242550-H9jf4NllaJ4npyoan6HaquHm4,00.html

please see above article.

IN ORDER FOR FASHION TO CHANGE AND INTEGRITY BE RESTORED TO IT THERE MUST BE A NUMBER OF THINGS BE ADDRESSED

(1) There needs to be some kind of regulation (like they have in paris for couture) as to who is qualified to be a designer/have a design business.

(2) stronger laws need to be created to protect designers against copyist/knockoff artists.

(3) everything cannot be so expensive for the desgners to stay in business

PR. $5000/month
showroom. $300-500/month+10-15% commission on all sales

patterns ,fabric, samples,venue, hair, makeup,models, shoes,backstage, imaging, casting and the list can go on and on. in a single season you can easily spend $50,000 on a small show and you have'nt yet made a single sale (so you have to sell enough clothes to have $50,000 in profit for you to break even
my question is.... how many independent designers can do this, when the stores who have money to spend would rather watch for three or four seasons before they decide to consider buying the collection. (by then you are already about $300,000 in loses and is already bankrupt or on the verge of bankrupsy with little or no money to produce a collection when the stores do buy..)

(4) there needs to be a new kind of fashion school, especially in america. One of the things i come to realize is that the schools are tailoring thier curriculum according to the needs of the bigger companies in the industry (i.e. if there is a shortage of illustrators in the industry the schools shift thier focus to creating strong illustration graduates.) there needs to be a school that focuses on teaching ppl how to think like designers, how to succeed in business for themselves, and how to develop an original idea into really great clothing without copying someone else.

(5) designers who are going into business now must develop a new business model for the 21st century, the old ready-to-wear models of the 70's and 80's have become obsolete and anyone who enters the business now using that model is almost sure of failure.

(6) there must be a fair system of coverage and support for the most talented designers. i see a lot of unskilled untalented ppl getting huge amount of press and support while a lot of really creative designers that i know are constantly ignored and overlooked. when this happens ,, indeed it does make fashion seem boring

there are a lot more things i would like to say but maybe i will post them another time.

 

[Honey~Blade]

I think in this day and age, everyone wants something quick. And back in the day, people thought computers will make life easier. Time would be more abundant and less paper will be used, we all know that the opposite is true. It's all about speed nowadays, no? That's why couture is dying and for the off the rack stuff it seems people just want to buy logo'd crap ala Christian Dior...

It takes time and education to know what's good or not, but for most people it's all about the brand and what trend is hip or what some wh*re "celebrity" is wearing.

So yes in that sense fashion is boring and crappy.

However if you look towards the work of designers as mentioned by Faust...fashion will always be exciting. Personally I'm always interested in what the japanese will pull off. CdG and Undercover always seem to be doing something different each season and it's amazing sometimes how they are able to define clothing.

Makes me wonder all the time and I'm always desperately waiting for the next season even if the previous collection was turtle poo, no one's perfect.

 

[i_<3_chanel]

ok . i'm too tired to explain my personal opinion & justify it
but i totally disagree

 

[i_<3_chanel]

I was so excited to see what Shelley Fox did this season because it was just a break away from all the monotony that's happening...she was the first this season who truly had the balls to present a really creative,really intuitive collection and not have that nonsense playing a factor in her work.

me too !

 

[faust]

(2) stronger laws need to be created to protect designers against copyist/knockoff artists.

Strongly disagree. You can read my argument here

http://www.thefashionspot.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27266

BTW, Pastry - thank you I think it's because my work brings no intellectual gratification.

 

[nqth]

Is it a rule that everybody needs to spend 50K to sell a collection? McQueen started with much less money:-P

 

[J'aime_la_mode]

I agree fashion has become somewhat boring and it seems like this is happening because fashion is becoming more accessible and mainstream...now this could be a good thing but instead people are using this new knowledge to become label obsessed. So many people think fashion is about buying a YSL logoed t-shirt. The majority of people don't seem to care about quality, fit, or originality. For most people (at least here in the states) fashion is more of a status symbol like "paris hilton wears Dior and I do too therefore I am well dressed and into fashion." It seems to me that to many people fashion is nothing more than a logo. However a good thing is that the market seems to be more varied and with more options so less focus is on trends and more focus is on developing your own personal style and wearing what you like.

 

[PrinceOfCats]

Hasn't it always been?

 

[finalfashion]

(5) designers who are going into business now must develop a new business model for the 21st century, the old ready-to-wear models of the 70's and 80's have become obsolete and anyone who enters the business now using that model is almost sure of failure.

This is something I believe in as well.

(though I don't agree that all designers should be registered as in couture because rules are so easily corrupted)

I think the idea of a fashion show, fashion weeks, and bi-yearly collections are outmoded convention.

Bi yearly collections:
Stores want new things every week - it gives their customers a reason to come in more often.
Ergo - fashion is fleeting because Fashion Is Boring. The fact that we get sick of our things and "want something new" gives fashion a reason to exist. The worst thing about fashion week is having to wait for months for it to come again. As fashion people we are always bored with the project we just worked on. I'm always asking "what's next?"

Fashion shows cost tons and tons of money and are fleeting - a years worth of work leads up to fifteen minutes for the designer? Only a few people get to see the show and the rest of us have to look of static, flash-card style pics?
Photo shoots are 100X better than fashion shows. Far less people to co-ordinate, more creative, more expressive, and more available to smaller designers.
I'm interested in Oscar De La Renta's trunk shows as a more engaging kind of "show". Rather than experiencing the show through the intermediary media the customers get to meet with the designer personally, actually touch and try on the clothing, and have a pleasant experience rather than the hyped-up circus fashion week has become. It's supposed to be about clothes, remember? This is another option for a small designer who wants to make certain, select people aware of (and inspired by) the story behind the clothes.

Certainly it is not all bad. And I look forward to fashion weeks every year and enjoy and learn from the good and the bad. It isn't boring at all!

Just some ideas.

 

[softgrey]

yes zam...

all completely true......

 

[Arturo21]

I can pretty much echo Zamb, Faust (especially your first comment, exactly what I was thinking) and J'aime. The logo crap, the logo crap - that is boring. That is boring, that is our problem. I'm so glad that the people on TFS are so intellectual and so open-minded, not just into buying Dior because it's Dior.

We need to get rid of the crap. Crap is not 'designer', it's crap. Sorry I'm so informal..

 

[Melisande]

Those are some good ideas, finalfashion.

Thanks, Johnny, I agree about the magazines and brands. By "mystique" I did not mean that fashion should be more unattainable though...I think it's wonderful that it's non-exclusive. I think we get bored because in this day and age we are bombarded with so many new clothes, images, trends and campaigns when we haven't even begun to appreciate last season's collections. We need time to digest and think about a wonderful meal; if we are being fed all day long, we'd get sick of eating.

 

[Melisande]

Now all the major houses have their second, third, and fourth lines, every celebrity has their own brand, and as if that weren't enough, in addition to printemps/ete and automne/hiver we have the "cruise","resort",and whatnot collections...vintage...young and indies designers in the spotlight...and then the highstreet stores replicating all that and multiplying it by two, three...

It's just too much!

...I think it's too much business/greed/speed and not enough emphasis on quality and art. (As with anything.)

 

[Spike413]

Hmm, interesting points made by many.

I agree with what Scott said about so many designers playing things very safe because of an obsession with commerciality ( I mean, when designers like McQueen and Galliano put basic, wearable clothes on their runways you know something is up).....in that way I think fashion lost a bit of it's magic, for me anyway. I mean, Galliano still uses his theatrics (as we saw in his last couture collection) but that heart-pounding excitement to see what's next isn't quite as present for me as it once was. I think designers need to shake things up. Safe is acceptable once in a while, but when it gets to the point where every designer's collection seems safe and neutral and totally unwilling to take a risk it is not a good thing at all.

Bottom line, I think fashion needs something to wake it up, just one designer who takes the safe, acceptable little rut so many designers have fallen into and rips it to very well tailored shreds. Something needs to shock me, just to keep things interesting.

 

[tott]

I think Johnny and helena both nailed it, sort of. Fashion is really accessible and (over)exposed, the whole world seems obsessed. It's become more democratic in the sense that it is available to anyone, anywhere, which I happen to think is a good thing. The saturation makes labels and logos less interesting precisely because they're not "special" any more.

And at the same time we're flooded with more or less generic designer goods, it also gets more interesting to pick and choose and find stuff you really like. Maybe find lesser known designers. Search out things you truly enjoy and find beautiful instead of being transfixed by a certain designer label.

I think/hope fashion is in a transitional state atm.

 

[Pastry]

So it seems that one of the main problems here is that fashion is too accessible?

Well, what about people like me? Soreee, but if fashion was exclusive I would be deprived of something so great. Internet is just another way of communication, right? There is nothing criminal integrating it into runway fashion (times change and nostalgia may destroy you).

I say, let the images be available to the copyists! We are bright enough to know that a well-made piece of fashion cannot be compared to..crap.

Which brings me to my next point. Imo, there should be an understanding of what is good fashon and what is not. I am not going to say Dolce & Gabbana and Michael Kors make for good fashion! An I the only one who is so frustrated with 'pretty' clothes?! No soul, no personality in those little brocade jackets and such! Gosh, people suck! Because the people want these little brocade jackets, and even dare to think of them as good fashion!

Old news! Old f-----g news, my dear average, rich-esque, likes-circle-skirts-and-double-C's customer!!!

 

[Zazie]

Fashion can NEVER be boring, my dears...it's the people who are becoming boring themselves, if they don't make the effort at being creative, experimental, expressive, and rely on the the big hype, big brands, big names and big magazines to tell them how to dress themselves - the new MUST-HAVES that everybody must have.

Look at the original way the people in the streets - the eccentric, the artistic, the rebellious, the activist with an axe to grind, the dreamer - all dress to express themselves. They have ways and the means to put it all together, and it's not Dior or Chanel, it's imagination. How can it ever be boring?

Don't ever lose sight of where it all comes from, and vote with your wallets.

Oh, and when in doubt, blame society!

 

[Zazie]

Hasn't it always been?

Boring yourself to death here, I presume?

 

[Pastry]

Fashion can NEVER be boring, my dears...it's the people who are becoming boring themselves, if they don't make the effort at being creative, experimental, expressive, and rely on the the big hype, big brands, big names and big magazines to tell them how to dress themselves - the new MUST-HAVES that everybody must have.

Look at the original way the people in the streets - the eccentric, the artistic, the rebellious, the activist with an axe to grind, the dreamer - all dress to express themselves. They have ways and the means to put it all together, and it's not Dior or Chanel, it's imagination. How can it ever be boring?

Don't ever lose sight of where it all comes from, and vote with your wallets.

Oh, and when in doubt, blame society!

Bravo Zazie!

And 'blame society'? Oh, am I even going to use that! hee..)