The System is Broken .. an editorial

With many of the heritage brands being reignited as supposedly au courant fashion, it has occurred to me that the system is indeed quite broken. The question is if it is irreparably broken or can it be resuscitated back to its proper purpose and that is to sell clothes.

First LVMH appointed Raf as a creative director. Whether or not this was a wise choice, it really isn’t for me to say even though I abhor what he stands for and what his output has been. Yearly sales at Dior, as a brand, have risen but take note that apparel, including haute couture is not broken out in terms of what has grown under his reign. My gripe has been if you have a heritage that has a rich history and a huge archive, why must it be totally reimagined rather than its history massaged and evolved as a brand for the 21^st century. I fear the next disaster waiting to happen to is the once esteemed brand of Bill Blass.

So, now after the supposed success of Saint Laurent, we have all sorts of assistants, fledgling and self-inflated designers being appointed as creative directors for breathing heritage brands or just these old school fusty names that must have been purchased for no other reason than attention or in hope that anyone might recognize the name they just paid for. Cases in point are Carven, Courreges, Vionnet and even Paco Rabanne; lest us forget Ungaro which has suffered numerous disastrous designers. Yes, there have been reimaginings that seem to work such as Balmain, Mugler and a few more but even those bear no resemblance to what made the names great or famous… so why use these names other than for attention? Keep in mind that just because a designer says they have been inspired by the founder, the end results are usually that you just shake your head from this convoluted and self-inflicted delusion.

Next up is a fawning media with the sheep mentality that seems to only be interested in garnering ad dollars and certainly not offering any insight or real opinions about a collection.  What happened to critics who actually understand what they look at and honestly have an authoritative voice rather than just the regurgitation of a ludicrous press release whose words usually belie what has been presented or even worse described in a single word like … FABULOUS!. Fashion is not a cerebral profession, you don’t have to be a Rhodes Scholar to design clothes but you must have talent.

Talent is the next logical topic. While the skill set is highly individual to each designer, it is safe to say that these mega brands should require designers to be able to sketch and drape and not just espouse enigmatic inspirations and point. It is said that Raf would never meet with a private client even though the house does haute couture and it is my assumption  that he is either a misogynist, afraid of the female body or has never been in a fitting a room with a female. Designers need to be designers and not in charge of store design or advertising. There are such HUGE disconnects within brands such as Saint Laurent and Dior. We have Hedi’s moody trashy Helmut Newtonish photos for apparel then we have glossy Maybelline type ads for cosmetics not to mention the disconnects within the brand extensions such as printed lipsticks on shoes and handbags as if they were made for H&M. Take for instance Jennifer Lawrence in a Dior handbag ad who seems to not want to touch let alone hold or own the bag. Instead of hiring legions of design staff, let those equipped with the proper skills direct things such as store design and advertising and brand extensions. If fashion has become just another arm of big business then it should be treated as such. After all, you wouldn’t allow a bookkeeper to prepare the quarterly earnings report for LVMH, now would you? You can’t hand over the reins of a major brand to a creative director who has the skill set of an assistant or a vendeuse!

Having spent decades in this business, it is my opinion that yes, fashion and retailing have changed or evolved or whatever but the facts remain that women want to feel sexy and attractive when they spend thousands of dollars on clothes. They do not want to look like they are dressed for Halloween in May and even though today’s client is more body conscious, their essential concerns remain the same as they did 40 years ago. Case in point; women of every age, let alone women of a certain age, do not ALL want to wear sleeveless dresses! Furthermore they are forced to in great majority as when you tour any store, a dress with sleeves is as rare as hen’s teeth! So we can now speak to the reality of who is your brand's demographic?  Age?  Body type?  Disposable  income?  Or in other words the who, what and where of your supposed client. Carry on all you want but Gucci girls who want to look like nerdy schoolgirls can’t afford to spend $6000 on a dress and so they get their version from the thrift shops and various fast fashion chains and the same goes for Hedi’s clients. BTW, the thrift store, well that’s where so many of these designers get their new groundbreaking ideas.

IMHO. It is what happens at Dior that will determine the long term fashion climate. I firmly believe that if Arnault or whomever actually takes the bold step of hiring a seasoned designer to restore Dior to  its proper place in the fashion pantheon, then well… all the kids of fashion better be worried ... really worried.

PS ... yes …  I use Hedi and Raf as whipping posts but there are legions more who fit the bill

Pre-Fall 2014 .....Christian Dior

In the reimagining process of the house of Dior Raf Simons is quickly destroying most of the brands DNA and trading it for a much more generic “common design room” type of look. Why on earth   this designer thinks he is the 21^st century incarnation of Monsieur Dior remains a mystery and how on earth LVMH is allowing this in quest of selling another handbag is far beyond my scope of comprehension.

While waiting for the remainder of the slides to appear, my research included learning that all the fabrics were developed especially for the collection and my reaction would be why bother? Just so you can further deepened your mark on the collection is just plain hubris especially when the end result is almost comically banal. The green nylon look fabrication used for that army “flight jacket” coat really doesn’t need any kind of research as the iconography is clear and the end result is amazingly good, it’s just too bad it is Dior. Actually it is far more palatable than most of collection in that it does reflect the vocabulary of the house.

Yes Raf managed to use some tailoring and yes he seemed to utilize some of the older codes of the house but why opt for those which might be confused with Cristobal Balenciaga and not Christian Dior. It is not to say that my belief is that CD was a design god but since no Kool Aid was consumed here, my emphatic belief is neither is Raf Simons. Slapping a flower on some simple Jil’esque silhouette is not exactly revelatory. The platform shoes are boring at this point and the NEW wedge will sell to all the victims but I’m guessing anything that might be construed as chic is out of the question. This last statement will include his take on the handbag which now sports photo images much like the tote many use for the supermarket.

The voluminous shapes  are somewhat boring and the leopard is at least a breath of fun but on the whole this is not exactly a collection that makes one’s heart sing with the glories of Paris Fashion or the glories of Maison Christian Dior. Quel Dommage!!!! Yes, there are some wearable pieces but yet there is nothing here that couldn’t or hasn’t been done by others. While being in that train of thought, who would have thought that Rachel Zoe’s pant lengths are suitable for this brand?

The Dior/Simons collaboration remains a mystery to me and am guessing it will remain so until all the brand recognition will be reduced to CD charms hanging off a handbag and maybe some interpretation of the new look.

Dior Homme spring 2014

This is Dior Homme which has already been reimagined by Hedi Slimane and now by its present carrier of the torch, Kris Van Assche.  The process started by Hedi was at first revolutionary and by now, Mr. Van Assche’s collections are part of the new image and look so much more evolutionary than revolutionary.

The clothes are skewed to young men and women who require an edge in their apparel and not a screaming look at me approach to fashion. They also require a very healthy allowance, trust fund or executive position. To my eye, the shorts are bit too prevalent, but I do like the abbreviated squared off jacket/blazer.  The palette seems to be a bit too victim being so dark and moody but one can see the beautiful edge that the clothes have which is provided by the fine tailoring.

The Mondrainaesque design flourish is interesting but it certainly is not very new on so many levels.  Personally, the sleeveless suit is a favorite of mine, but that’s a highly personal choice.  What is so odd is that this collection, which has been so totally recast as a very young man’s collection, started out as a very older man’s collection that far outlived the design of its counterpart in ladies.

My take is that Mr. Van Assche has studiously developed his customer and rather than toss him/her away every season for some of the moment craze, he keeps them coming back to see the newest design FLOURISHES of the season.  If you recall, the words used are NUANCE and a massaged trend!

So… love it? …. NO! … Hate it? … NO!  But … there are plenty of pieces to fall in like with, which is far more than one can say about so many of the new collections that have been presented during the past few weeks.

Berluti spring 2014

In a season where “men are the new women,” Berluti arrives with a refreshing sigh of relief and a respite from the absurdity that has been populating the men’s shows for the past few weeks.

This nascent collection dares to show without a pair shorts in sight, with normal footwear and models that look like men of all ages, with nary a nipple in sight… imagine the novelty of it!  It is not to say that the collection will bowl you over or astound you in any way at all, but it makes a distinctive mark this season by being realistically fashionable …. OMG!!! The dreaded “R” word!!!!

The essence of the collection is that this is fashion that has been massaged and contains nuance rather than slapping you in the face with drama or off the hook trend.  Yes, the suits are more abbreviated and the pant a bit slimmer and shorter but the workmanship is incredible, the styling chic yet trendy and the overall look is very Lapo Elkann.  If you don’t know who that is … just shut the computer down now and walk away.

Words that come to mind after seeing the collection are rakish, dandy, dishabille, slim, natty, monochromatic, haberdashery and stylishly appropriate.  Somehow you would be hard pressed to find 6 more collections that befit those words or overall sentiment. Here is another interesting concept that shows up in Berluti in that the collection doesn’t really require explanation, seeing is believing and no blah blah blah needed! … What a concept! … And wearable, to boot... Oooh, the dreaded “W” word!

If this reviewer could have a wish list it would include a bit more color, a bit more than the hinted fashionable more forward underpinnings, a bit more variety of silhouettes, a dash more of slick and an overall feeling of perfectly turned out as in a sharper edge to the clothes.  This is much more of a personal preference and am very sure that most opinions will not be colored by these observations or detractions.

Please feel free to pipe in on this !!