What is going on in the fashion industry right now!?

[blueorchid]

I don't think having too many models is a bad thing really. The more models you have there is a greater variance in appearance and I think it's really great to have a wider variety of models. Even though they all typically adhere to the requirements of a model (tall, thin, etc.) there are different types of facial beauty being shown, most models now don't have classically beautiful features. Slowly but surely I think models of different ethnicities are also making a bit of headway. The more types of women represented in fashion, the better.

 

[agee]

It will almost certainly get duller....it's well known that creativity and instability go hand in hand....obviously if you apply the condition that the designer/photographer/whathaveyou must not offend and always be perfect for public appearances - well, then you have to either have them locked up and surrounded by 10 security guards or you can't have a creative genius in your employ.

So, pretty much, less fun creativity, more painfully boring people who never offend, never inspire....

I am going to respond to this in bullets:
* I think the key phrase here is "in your employ," once these designers decided to sign those high paying contracts, they have to play by the rules of that business and meet the criteria that they set.

* I think that there is a sense of entitlement when it comes to some who fancy themselves as cyber-patrons of art. I think that we want to frequently and continuously see amazing and cutting edge from the major names in fashion, when the bottom line is the bottom line.

* Dior, Chanel, Givenchy and others are corporate-owned legacy houses, and I will throw in that Vogue and the editors and photographers are also part of large companies, and as such are the very definition of the word establishment and while I am certainly not saying that they should never innovate or blow our minds, when they do that should be considered a bonus.

* Overall I don't pity designers, photographers or editors, with their six and seven figure contracts and other perks, but I do think that in the current environment, some are unfairly pressured to produce massive amounts of innovative, shocking and slick content every month / season / every half-season.

* I think that there is creativity and new ideas out there it just does not reside in the LVMH-PPR-Conde Nast realm or if it does, it is in the lower realms.

* If cyber-patrons really want to see creative genius, then we need to get off our lazy ***es (and we really don't even need to do that) and start looking outside of Vogue and LVMH owned design houses for the fresh and unexpected.

 

[iluvjeisa]

I am going to respond to this in bullets:
* I think the key phrase here is "in your employ," once these designers decided to sign those high paying contracts, they have to play by the rules of that business and meet the criteria that they set.

* I think that there is a sense of entitlement when it comes to some who fancy themselves as cyber-patrons of art. I think that we want to frequently and continuously see amazing and cutting edge from the major names in fashion, when the bottom line is the bottom line.

* Dior, Chanel, Givenchy and others are corporate-owned legacy houses, and I will throw in that Vogue and the editors and photographers are also part of large companies, and as such are the very definition of the word establishment and while I am certainly not saying that they should never innovate or blow our minds, when they do that should be considered a bonus.

* Overall I don't pity designers, photographers or editors, with their six and seven figure contracts and other perks, but I do think that in the current environment, some are unfairly pressured to produce massive amounts of innovative, shocking and slick content every month / season / every half-season.

* I think that there is creativity and new ideas out there it just does not reside in the LVMH-PPR-Conde Nast realm or if it does, it is in the lower realms.

* If cyber-patrons really want to see creative genius, then we need to get off our lazy ***es (and we really don't even need to do that) and start looking outside of Vogue and LVMH owned design houses for the fresh and unexpected.

Ok, yes, we can look elsewhere for creativity. We can even look outside of fashion for creativity. As someone who works in the scientific field rather than fashion that is probably what I will do.

That said, I still remember the day ten years ago when I got hold of 1970s Vogue Paris and realized where the best art of the later part of the 20th century had been hiding. I guess that moment in fashion history has now truly come and passed.

But what those issues of the magazine showed me is that when creative genius and loads of money combine with excentricity and work ethic - there is nothing better. Nothing. No higher kick of beauty. It's hard to imagine an avant garde magazine getting to that level. I am still searching, of course.

 

[Master Wood]

I am an unashamed patron of London. If I would like one thing to happen it would be for all those who belong in London to return to showing in their city. I think this could be one of the biggest turning points. British fashion is without the most innovative, its colleges are the best in the world and its alumni can be found at every level in ever city of the fashion world. I think if more money was pumped into London - and it will be - and there becomes a merging of mega designers in another city, that this combustion will undoubtedly change the direction and face of fashion. There are rumors circulating this morning that Alexander McQueen has been given the contract to design Kate Middletons wedding dress, if this is the case I am pretty sure the brand will have little choice but to return to London in september to show, no doubting pulling many others with it. With the Diamond Jubilee and Olympic games just around the corner I really hope that London pulls itself together and becomes the fashion centre of the world, we are half way there already!

 

[m.j.]

as for models:

im referring to less known models who are famous for being on the vip list. i respect supermodels cos they became supers but then started acting like spoiled brats. they saw that they can. so i won't name anyone, just look at all those nameless girls who have affairs with famous men...
there is such thing as too many. look at tfs' supporting cast. im all for diversity but this isn't it....its like the more the merrier.... all i want to see is the real generation of supermodels kicking arses like the ones in the 90s did. or even in the 80s.

there is a reason people and designers and brands respond to the supers.

 

[AgrenateD]

^ and yet there is also a reason why the Supermodel era ended, which all goes back to the point that change is inevitable in fashion.. but at the same time the hierarchical aspect of fashion itself is only catching up with the change since most of the people in power has tried to preserve their positions with utmost strength.. but i digress.

as for the Supermodels, i think their era ended when Anna Wintour et al ultimately decided to cease their celebrity by shifting the direction to real Hollywood celebrities (which is funny considering how it ended up biting us in the *** with the inundation of these so called "celebs"). plus the ostentatious kind of glam that these Supermodels gave to fashion did not last the transition into the 21st century, although the grunge aesthetic prevailed and has spawned such various alternative directions that is very much visible nowadays. it resulted to more minimalism and abstractism in collections, in printwork, even in models hence the blandness people so often complain.

i think everything can all be attributed to how technology has given the media innovations that made every aesthetic driven field in this generation capable of promulgating their ideas as fast as possible; giving rise to fast fashion which is in the end a double edged sword. i will be very glad (although apprehensive) as to the change that is sure to happen, the great Paris Reshuffle, if ever they decide to complicate the selection of which designers to move in which houses. Galliano will sure be missed and he gave us alot, but the time is ripe for new blood. everything has been rather stale as of late, there are too many designers, too many creatives concentrated in burrowing deeper into their own rut. things need some shaking up.

 

[m.j.]

IMO supers were rumoved cos they were just bringing too much attention.... people judged the clothes using their names and connectiong them to the clothes.....that was bad, but this is too chaotic
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[Coulbourne]

I'm hoping everything changes, right down to the core of fashion but I honestly don't see that happening, at least no time soon.

Designers - They pretty much shuffle around from house to house, no real change is ever going to happen there. And with the center of fashion still being focused in western countries, I don't expect to see any real push to change anything.

Models - It's disgusting to see how little diversity there is and to call it anything other then blatant racism is insulting. But designers and editors are to blame for that.

Editors - A big part of the problem because they do the thinking for the masses, which I believe isn't good for the masses or for the editors egos.

Bloggers - The newest introduction to the industry I see them pushing for a place that was exclusively held for magazine editors until recently. While I myself am not to personally fond of them, I find it refreshing to see something new and different come out of the industry.

Consumers - The ones who hold the biggest responsibility in my opinion because without them, the industry in itself would cease to exist and the only option we'd have for clothing is Wal-Mart. There's a minority voice screaming for change but the masses are still consuming any and everything that a select few put out.

I guess the only way we will see change is when the rest of the world catches up to the western countries and dictate what they want. The emerging markets aren't the U.S. or Western Europe anymore, eventually they'll be forced to listen and then we'll see change.

 

[gimmethatbag]

Every person has been affected by the global economic downturn. It creates stress for a lot of people in a lot of different areas. I'm sure that every designer is under a lot of pressure to turn out things that are newer, hotter, cheaper, and sure to sell better. That's probably a lot of the reason why people feel like there is less creativity and less creative ideas out there. Really outrageous, creative, innovative things are more of a risk as far as consumer demand. Things that are sure to sell are probably going to be less creative and out there because things that are new and fresh haven't been proven to be hot sellers. I'm sure that designers like Galliano and Decarnin feel a huge amount of pressure on them all the time, especially around times when they're showing new collections and they have no idea what the reaction to it will be. So I think everything really comes down to money.

 

[F0F0]

Fashion Innovation, Yay or Nay?

Every person has been affected by the global economic downturn. It creates stress for a lot of people in a lot of different areas. I'm sure that every designer is under a lot of pressure to turn out things that are newer, hotter, cheaper, and sure to sell better. That's probably a lot of the reason why people feel like there is less creativity and less creative ideas out there. Really outrageous, creative, innovative things are more of a risk as far as consumer demand. Things that are sure to sell are probably going to be less creative and out there because things that are new and fresh haven't been proven to be hot sellers. I'm sure that designers like Galliano and Decarnin feel a huge amount of pressure on them all the time, especially around times when they're showing new collections and they have no idea what the reaction to it will be. So I think everything really comes down to money.

I agree: big corporations usually become really risk-averse during difficult economic times as consumer demand wanes. But this is also a good opportunity for fast-forward companies to innovate and capitalise on emerging consumer behaviour patterns! i.e. Polyvore, ThreadBanger (from today backed by Youtube, Google).

 

[brooksie]

Great posts here. Funny thing is that almost everything named so far existed 20 years ago, but the big difference is that fashion was far less prominent back then in terms of being a branch of the mass entertainment world. It's become far bigger and now competes w/ the movies for public interest (the music industry is a lame duck these days), but unlike the movies fashion it sells something more concrete than dreams. It sells clothes, accessories, and perfume. Sometimes I think the industry has forgotten that and mistakes itself for being Hwood Jr. Big mistake, IMHO.

What I mean by this is that until fairly recently (say sometimes in the middle 00s) fashion in general had very little of the "aspirational" and "lifestyle brand" orientation that it does now. Before that, this approach to it was mostly promoted by a few US labels (think Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan, etc...) who had much success w/ that dumbed down approach, so it seems fashion tried to adopt it across the board (there are holdouts, true but it's more common than not).

In some ways, this is what I hold against Anna Wintour most....her leading the industry into these dangerous waters of mass aspiration and away from fashion as an applied art which serves real life functions/needs. This is a huge reason why there was such an explosion of product on the market in the past few years. Who needs a whole new wardrobe of stuff every 3 months and why would anyone think that producing it is a good idea? That’s a major sign of the “aspirational lifestyle” madness run amok, but it hardly stops there. Oddly fashion is reminding me more of the food and wine industry than anything these days....while both are seeking to appeal to mass tastes and pretensions, both are also dumbing down to accommodate a rather bland palate. . Both industries started neglecting their core audiences while running after the mass money w/ predictable results. It's funny that the two industries which cover basic human needs (ie food and clothing) suddenly thought of themselves as a basis for an "aspirational lifestyle". The idea seems so absurd when one thinks about it.

This mentality is the basis for the recent ills fashion IMHO. It pushed the idea that more was more and that one's life should be built around indiscriminate consumption to fit into this magical "lifestyle" . The consequences are felt from the factory workers in some Third World country, to the retailers, designers, editors, the general (and very tapped out) public, to even the celebs we're all supposed to emulate. Overall, it's ramped up the pressure for more stuff and faster, so mediocre is now the best we can hope for. What industry can remain healthy w/ this approach?

MJ…I’d love to hear your views on the magazines.

 

[m.j.]

MJ…I’d love to hear your views on the magazines.

don't say that again

magazines are the closest thing for common people to get in touch with fashion.
and although the trends and icons are not made in them, they are glue between brands, designers, etc and people wirld wide.
there is a simple reason i stopped buying them. i had all issues of cosmos and elles from serbia and croatia and many magazines from italy and the states. i threw most of them away, kept only the ones
that i found to be more interesting.
editors are the ones who start labeling certain stars, calling them fashion icons or trashing them... they are the ones who first started calling certain actresses and singers icons of fashion, though the girls were barely 18... look at miss barton again.
they are obssesed with youth and certain brands. there is no diversity in anything fashion related. for example, in serbian magazines you can only see names of 2 serbian designers in editorials and brands like zara, guess, aldo.... its all so generic.
yes, they pay for that, but what do i get? someone's lookbook?
oh and the chioce of models..... it would make sense if the stylists picked models. but they don't. i don't even know what the stylists do....
so, editors pick models, pieces of clothes, they pick photographers, blah blah blah.... its all up to that one person maybe two. can a person or two actually know whats best for millions of readers? nope. but they do influate people, especially the teens, and that is why most of girls look like there is some dress code or even uniforms.
so, when was the last time you were actually shocked with an editorial or cover? good schocked, i am not talking about little girls dressed up as women (vogue paris december last year, if i am not wrong), or so called arty editorials with boobs here and there and other female parts which can be important for designers, but why would i care for some naked editorial?


seems like one group of people is controlling everything in fashion. LVMH group owns almost every fashion house... and there is a reason why monopolism is bad. no creativity, no competition. and no money unless u r in that circle. and i have no idea how that can be changed.

the other thing that bothers me is that music and film and theatre are under fashion's influences. first thing i heard about the black swan was that rodarte is doing costumes... but thats a whole different story...

tbc.....

 

[F0F0]

...the other thing that bothers me is that music and film and theatre are under fashion's influences. first thing i heard about the black swan was that rodarte is doing costumes... but thats a whole different story...

Perhaps you don't want to know about this just launched magazine that's about to get or is getting some serious hype:

IMAGINE FASHION
http://www.imaginefashion.com/
An elastic mind, nurturing a dynamic clash of ideas. Imagine more than just a magazine. Imagine film, imagine music, imagine art, imagine fashion in motion.

 

[fraiseap]

Wouldn't it be great if there was a fashion revolution of a similar magnitude to Punk? Maybe the stagnation we have seen in recent years has provided the ground for such a revolution.

 

[F0F0]

Wouldn't it be great if there was a fashion revolution of a similar magnitude to Punk? Maybe the stagnation we have seen in recent years has provided the ground for such a revolution.

It's happening now and is called Secondhand and/or Vintage.

Next big revolution is going to be fabrics and garments that interact emotionally with you, made of nanotechnologies and advance materials.

Although others would argue next one will initiate directly from the factories where textile workers from Bangladesh "work for a living".

 

[fraiseap]

^^

While I agree that the vintage trend is very cool indeed, I don't see it as something on the same scale as Punk. I was at school when the London Punk scene started and it was like a whirlwind. Anyone over 30 just didn't get it, the entire normal order was challenged, the public was horrified.

The same happened in the sixties with mod fashion and mini skirts (before my time).

Both these trends were iconoclastic and were adopted en masse by the younger generation. That is the sort of thing I think we need.

 

[brooksie]

^^^ Unfortunately, those massive changes in fashion were all driven by the music scene of the day and upheaval caused by the underground coming overground, if only momentarily. The music scene nowadays is pretty dead and we see that reflected in the clothes. Since hip-hop came on the scene, there's been nothing to come along to change the sound or look in any large scale or radical way. It's like we've been stuck in time since the 90s or worse forced to go back in time for inspo. It's all so strange to me given the amount of technology and info around to take advantage of. Of course, maybe that's the main problem.....after all none of the massive changes in culture or aesthetics happened in the days of the 'net. Maybe it was the lack of info that spurred action rather than mere observation?

Most of the 20th century was spent trying to find the next new thing and experimenting w/ aesthetics, but once we hit the 90s all that desire for new ways to express oneself seemed to limit itself to technology. Maybe it was that people had so much stuff by then that they lost their desire for novelty? Perhaps the young got lazy? Too often, they seem content to live in other people's pasts. The lack of a distinct musical revolution to shake people up seems play a major role here.

 

[m.j.]

The lack of a distinct musical revolution to shake people up seems play a major role here.

i agree with everything you said, and it just prolongs what i said about fashion having bigger influence on music and movies now than ever....
while it should be vice versa.
there is a reason why i love and the Brits so much. they had music revolution in the 90s that sort of pulled fashion into all that. so while big bands were doing their thing, designers, movie makers were all part of 'british invasion'... but that was almost 20yrs ago....

 

[brooksie]

MJ...I must say that I really enjoy reading your posts. At 1st I was a bit confused on your point that fashion is influencing movie/music more than the other way around, but I now see where you're coming from. This is why we're now stuck in the age of celeb stylists, sameness, and why they all show up at awards shows in overpriced prom dresses! It's all too safe. You get no change w/o risk and too many are risk adverse. Shame.

One thing I've always loved about music based "youth cultures" (most of them UK based) is that they wore clothes that symbolized something for them w/o worrying about whether others thought it was "tasteful", chic, or "on trend" (a phrase I hate). For them, the clothes were the extension of the films/music/art that moved them, not the other way around. Their goal was to show a new ways of communicating and new values via their clothes. Today, it's simply about the approval of others...hence the need for stylists and being a walking advertisement for some big name companies.

On the magazine front, I find it quite odd that they'd bring these titles into a new market and yet not cover that market/region. What's the use of "Vogue Serbia" if most of what you see isn't connected to your actual life? Do they seek to find new talent or to cultivate local talent? One of Anna Wintour's greatest strengths is that she's used Vogue to find, cultivate, and mentor new talent.

I tend to avoid most mainstream fash mags anyway, I prefer the "books" like AnOther, 10, Arena, Numero, etc...they may have little to do w/ my actual life, but they show me the fashion I crave in very creative ways. Too many mainstream mags seem more like catalogs these days than chroniclers of fashion at a given moment.

 

[Lapin de Lune]

^^^ Unfortunately, those massive changes in fashion were all driven by the music scene of the day and upheaval caused by the underground coming overground, if only momentarily. The music scene nowadays is pretty dead and we see that reflected in the clothes. Since hip-hop came on the scene, there's been nothing to come along to change the sound or look in any large scale or radical way. It's like we've been stuck in time since the 90s or worse forced to go back in time for inspo. It's all so strange to me given the amount of technology and info around to take advantage of. Of course, maybe that's the main problem.....after all none of the massive changes in culture or aesthetics happened in the days of the 'net. Maybe it was the lack of info that spurred action rather than mere observation?

Most of the 20th century was spent trying to find the next new thing and experimenting w/ aesthetics, but once we hit the 90s all that desire for new ways to express oneself seemed to limit itself to technology. Maybe it was that people had so much stuff by then that they lost their desire for novelty? Perhaps the young got lazy? Too often, they seem content to live in other people's pasts. The lack of a distinct musical revolution to shake people up seems play a major role here.

Wow! These thoughts really spoke to me, and have more or less articulated so much that has gone through my mind on the subject.
Having recently reached the grandesque old age of 37, I have been intrigued by how many 'trends' seem to keep rehashing, especially the vintage/alternative flare ups which I personally first witnessed around 1990 when leaving school. There does seem to have been a slacking off of 'true' invention since then, particularly, especially compared to the more memorable examples prior to the 90's. I often perceive trends to move much faster now, and they are seemingly less concerned with lifestyle choices and/or politcal, revolutionary or even musical influence.

Perhaps they (the styles) are a little too reliant upon instant visual stimulation now, as opposed to more substantial choices, which reminds me that style and substance really can gel magnificently on occasion, and are not always strictly diametrically opposed.

I often wonder about the phrase 'finding my style'.

I also wonder if the current state of play has something to do with passivity, apathy, too. Are we no longer challenged? People in general seem to be a lot less critical of popular media than they were 20/30 years ago (at least here in the UK), and add this to the explosion of instant media via the internet, our minds are incessantly bombarded with an influx of constantly changing ideas, which move so terrifyingly fast that the substance is all too often completely sucked out of them. There's the global element also...and I wonder if this has had an effect on what we used to call sub-culture...

I personally feel that something will alter soon, as so many in this thread have suggested. As to the nature of what, or how, I have absolutely no idea. Just a feeling.

Just thoughts, please forgive the haphazard semblance of them