Why Do Some Fashion Brands Last While Others Fade?

[nationalsalt]

Daniel Roseberry: Everything but Schiaparelli.
Pieter Mulier: Alaïa made of cardboard.
Casey Cadwallader: Mugler as a sex-shop
Matthieu Blazy: Desperately wanting to replicate Daniel Lee success at BV.

Oh damn

May I ask who you're a fan of?

 

[jeanclaude]

Oh damn

May I ask who you're a fan of?

Still working designers I like John Galliano,Haider Ackermann,Olivier Theyskens and Ralph Rucci...but from the new ones...nobody!

 

[donyan]

My question would be, why do we not have any really interesting new designers anymore? Weren't McQueen, Chalayan, AF Vandevorst, Anne Valerie Hash all at the same time? I can't think of anyone today that I'm excited about or whose clothes I actively look out for in a store.

 

[visvim2001]

The latest crop of designers that rose to prominence in the past decade or so are more interested in exposure rather than aesthetics. They’re often wacky (JWA, Daniel Lee), banal (offwhite, rhude, Matthew Williams), or lowbrow-turned-highbrow (Wales-Bonner). Either trying too hard to be faux-intellectual by pushing social commentary down the runway or reviving some awful, awful era in fashion.

I think great designers are cranky, difficult people, bordering on arrogant. They’re uncompromising and fully committed to their design ethos. Ralph and Armani, they are very wearable, yet unmistakable in their styling. They have mastered ‘the look’. Hedi says f*ck you to inclusivity and democracy - If you don’t fit into my clothes, wear other brands. Rick is unapologetically avant garde. So is Dries, Yohji. People who wear these clothes and walk down the street more often than not project a kind of devil may care attitude. I love that.

 

[MulletProof]

My question would be, why do we not have any really interesting new designers anymore? Weren't McQueen, Chalayan, AF Vandevorst, Anne Valerie Hash all at the same time? I can't think of anyone today that I'm excited about or whose clothes I actively look out for in a store.

2008-2010 was the beginning of the end of independent design, it is a shift in fashion towards an exclusively corporate direction and they used its democratization to indoctrinate every new enthusiast and potential consumer into assimilating corporate fashion as fashion. They don't understand it any other way. Just look at how members here see something good and immediately respond with some 'she/he would be good for [insert old fashion house]' almost like a knee jerk reaction. It's also why people are fascinated by endless discussions on Richemont, Kering, LVMH and their 'star' designers. That, and not design (let alone independent design) is the be all end all for them and what TRULY means you made it as a designer.

The new hyped designers are not really being remotely abstract, challenging or experimental because besides not having any competition or pressure in a unique field (because there is hardly a field of independent designers with its own dynamics of rivalries and similarities), they're auditioning. They're not trying to be too interesting, but instead sit in the waiting room and present multiple evidence on how they could generate numbers for a big house that will, hopefully, sooner or later, call and finally 'validate' them as proper designers.

 

[LadyJunon]

2008-2010 was the beginning of the end of independent design, it is a shift in fashion towards an exclusively corporate direction and they used its democratization to indoctrinate every new enthusiast and potential consumer into assimilating corporate fashion as fashion. They don't understand it any other way. Just look at how members here see something good and immediately respond with some 'she/he would be good for [insert old fashion house]' almost like a knee jerk reaction. It's also why people are fascinated by endless discussions on Richemont, Kering, LVMH and their 'star' designers. That, and not design (let alone independent design) is the be all end all for them and what TRULY means you made it as a designer.

The new hyped designers are not really being remotely abstract, challenging or experimental because besides not having any competition or pressure in a unique field (because there is hardly a field of independent designers with its own dynamics of rivalries and similarities), they're auditioning. They're not trying to be too interesting, but instead sit in the waiting room and present multiple evidence on how they could generate numbers for a big house that will, hopefully, sooner or later, call and finally 'validate' them as proper designers.

I think that a huge factor in the mindset of the current generation of independents is the lack of example. Because of the mass exodus of numerous indie brands that would've be 20 to 40 years old today, there's a huge generational gap between century-old heritage houses and three-year-old labels that operating out of a squat. To add to that, a majority of the brands left in that gap happily threw away their identities in favour of courting the Philophiles that Hedi alienated. Therefore, corporate houses are seen as the way up. However, the core difference between playing that game in the 90s and 00s vs today is that they're competing against design directors and senoir designers that hold more weight as candidates due to their corporate experience and extensive resumes.

The 10s really damaged the independent scene in terms of it being extremely homogenised. It started with a whole generation of designers folding or leaving their own moderately successful personal lines in favour of taking up huge gigs: Julien Dossena, Glenn Martens, Jonathan Saunders, Anthony Vaccarello, Bouchra Jarrar, and eventually Demna Gvasalia. Even Jonaathan Anderson's eponymous label is eclipsed by Loewe. Then we had a almost a whole decade of "traditional" designers being forced to compete with mass-appeal, merchandise-heavy streetwear brands and designers dropping off the show schedule (ie: killing their main source of industry PR), selling off to a group, severely downsizing or just shuttering completely.

 

[Drusilla_]

^ yeah and you can see it in how small the number of independent designers who are considered semi-established/still-relevant today, is compared to 2008.

 

[donyan]

I think it's safe to say that there's literally no-one left. London used to be such an inspiring pool of talent but there seems to be no-one at all right now. Or is there?

 

[Drusilla_]

^I think Simone Rocha is doing well in her niche, her aesthetic isn't universal but she doesn't lack a pov and there's definitely a demand for what she does (and she does it better than NYC hyped girlie designers like Sandy Liang etc). She also has a good accessory offering as an entry point into her stuff, which is smart.

Beyond the question of mindset, let's also not forget that retailers/wholesalers collapsing can sometimes take down an entire indie brand and as a domino effect, the factories that produce their clothes (e.g. MatchesFashion, Barneys).