I don’t see myself as
a fashion designer. I see myself as a person in design.
The words of Reed Krakoff resonate in my mind as he amongst
so many so called designers who seem to be far more concerned with the blah
blah blah rather than the fashion. Simply said, there are too many people in
design who fancy themselves designers and not enough fashion designers who live
the business of fashion.
No matter the season, the year or the location, fashion
designers seem to be travelling a route which leads to a destination of generic fashion. This is not the generic
fashion of let’s say a Walmart or JC Penny, but a new classification which is
being embraced within the so called designer or top tier of fashion. What seems
to be happening is that clothes are being designed in some communal design room
that yields clothes which have no distinction. The clothes can bear almost any
label and the only thing that sets them apart is their particular blah blah
blah, a color, a fabrication and, of course, the label.
Whether in Europe or the USA or wherever there is a fashion
week, we are experiencing a sameness that will not benefit anyone other than
the fast fashion and down market brands. As a reasonably astute observer and
participant in this business we call fashion, I would be hard pressed to differentiate
between Prada, Proenza Schouler, Chloe, Reed Krakoff, Balenciaga, Alexander
Wang and I am pretty sure the latest Ghesquiere vision for Louis Vuitton.
Apparently designers seem to think there is safety in numbers and no reason to
be individual in their approach.
With all this being said, please do not twist the words to
think that stepping out from the crowd will solve and ensure notoriety; this is
not a sure fire recipe for success. Think of this, instead of showing clothes
that seems to be far more than just reminiscent of, let’s say, Rick Owens (men’s or women’s)… why
not harken back to great design as well as some sort of vision or trend.
Fashion has never been about sameness or going with the flow; it has been a
constantly evolving business which today
seems to be stagnating with “people in design” a rather than fashion
designers.
Having seen many pre-fall women’s collections and many men’s
fall collections, it became blatantly apparent that the business is broken and
no one wants to fix it because the so call called media or fashion cognoscenti
no longer reward originality and only applaud “designerless” looks and
collections. Not everyone who spends money for top shelf fashion wants to fit
in; not everyone wants the same shapeless (in women’s) and snug fitting (in
men’s) silhouettes. Retailers complain that business stinks, inventories at
clearance time are on the rise and the growing importance of outlet stores
filled with mark downs is evidence that something needs to be fixed.
Creativity seems to be at an all-time low, with few
exceptions, and what needs to be
remembered is that the true greats of fashion design were not super stars
because they fit a mold, they were pioneers and free thinkers who had a vision
based on their idealization of beauty and what women wanted..okay and men too.
Today we seemingly only have clothes that are to appeal to size 2 robotic
faceless women who for fall will wear anonymous shapeless and oversized clothes
or pre-pubescent boys dressed up in oddly tight fitting suits or slovenly
layered oversized garments.
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