Repairing a broken system .. Fashion in Revolt

The system is broken

Okay so we all hopefully know that today’s system of fashion needs a fix. My questions are many and I am a bit slower to jump on the Burberry, Ford Vetements bandwagon as I am not sure this has been thoroughly thought through.

Years ago, yes Helmut Lang and Donna Karan were pushing and showing the fashion calendars and hoping that New York designers were given a fair shake by showing first and thusly not being called me too collection if they continued to show after Europe. Okay so that was one issue. Donna Karan long a proponent of deliveries that actually reflected the calendar times of in store delivery seemed thwarted at any possibility of that happening.

Retailers, what is left of them, carry on about fresh inventory to keep their customers interested and coming and back for more and so now we have fall/winter goods arriving in June and July and being marked down by the time any of it can be worn. We have a media who for the most part has 10 minutes of experience in the world or real fashion and the rest apparently seem to be rewarded for praising clothes they couldn’t possible grasp or understand without a press release or a press office to explain them. We have buyers who are really CPA’s or bean counters rather than buyers, inventories that are on wheels, a considerable dearth of real merchants and a boat load of untalented designers who receive a boat load of press because the parent companies have boat loads of ad dollars.

So now,  we have the proposed a twice year show calendar which will happen closer to the times or at the time when the clothes are delivered to the stores. The theory is like Donna’s original idea but someone needs to explain the logistics of this such as does this mean that manufacturers/ designers will produce ahead of orders or will the lead time between shows and in store merchandise deliveries be shortened? It has long been a battle that fabric deliveries and the entire manufacturing process does  not allow for a reduction in the time needed to go from runway to store. So.. where’s the thought process.. where’s the solution.. this is not some Mickey Rooney/ Judy Garland “ let’s put on a  show” and presto there is a Busby Berkeley musical.. this is real life, real business.

Tom Ford and Christopher Bailey and these characters from Vetements are yes, finally speaking up but they offer no viable solutions to an ailing industry. Once again we get a shit load of hype and nothing to back it up. Actions have consequences!!!!

Burberry Prorsum Women's Spring 2016 LFW

Having never been in awe of Christopher Bailey’s supposed great talents, this collection has does nothing to alter my opinion. IMHO, he is overhyped but not as talentless as many of his peers.

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The Spring Collection for 2016 contains some stellar pieces but as usual they fall into the outerwear category which was exactly the category that catapulted the brand to fame. The most military influences were front and center from silhouettes to the gold bullion embellishments and of course there were the trench coats which took leading roles for the season. Funny, that the same white that was a highlight of me men’s review still looks right and trendy some 3 months later.

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click on the image to enlarge

As for the vintage sissy missy dresses... well why did they look like the girls forgot their knickers or underpinnings; the dresses looked like shells of what might have been. There were a few exceptions like the black daisy dress and a sort of menopausal rose colored heavily embellished lace dress. The ice cream palette combined with the wine and black did nothing to enhance their qualities. Before it’s forgotten, the shoes, oh the shoes surely did nothing to enhance the dresses’ femininity alas making them look hippyish rather than chic.

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One item struck as maybe one of the best pieces within the collection and that was what can be called a 21^st century take on the sweatshirt. It was shown with a print skirt and seemed to be a one off piece as its theme or silhouette was never expanded upon. We could speak of the prints but we won’t. While on the subject of what we won’t discuss, we won’t discuss that the collection looked very spotty in terms of quality in particular a pea coat which looked particularly ill sewn.

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click on the image to enlarge

Lastly, you would have to be blind not to have noticed nary a plaid in site and the utter lack of accessories in this show which is highly uncharacteristic as it is my opinion that the accessories are what really keep this brand growing in tens of sales. But one more time, it must be asked “where’s the beef?” … get it?

Burberry Prorsum .. by Christopher Bailey ... men's spring 2016

Almost every single review of the past women’s collections and now men’s has spent some time discussing the Omni-ambi-bi-a-sexuality of that collection but not here! What needs to be spoken of here is that in the 60s and 70s when some men were focused and eagerly awaiting the newest creations from International Male, Ah Men, Lew Magram or the back pages of Esquire and GQ. The end result was the same, all in search of those sexy, possibly taboo, articles of clothing that more than exemplified, or maybe that’s overstated, the peacock eras of menswear. In a way these catalogs and ads were oddly prescient as is evidenced in the current Burberry Prorsum collection for Spring 2016.

Christopher Bailey flexes his gender bending brand muscle with his heavy and almost all inclusive use of lace. Some of it, well to me, very little of it, is appealing despite its press worthiness. What was most intriguing to me was the standard chesterfield coat with lace replacing velvet and the addition of the lace to a very standard issue trench, and then there were a few quilted pieces which were especially appealing along with the cashmere joggers, the tasseled loafer, long scarves and the new giraffe print.

This is a collection based solely on fabrication and not much more. Yes great jackets and outerwear but that is a given in any Burberry collection. What I found to be most intriguing here is that the collection had some sort of nerdy 50s vibe that was built on short sleeved shirts, narrow ties and tie bars, geeky color combinations and high water pants. Yes the joggers are lust worthy and very few of the lace pieces the same but as a whole ….yawning!!!!

Burberry Prorsum resort 2016

While not being a huge fan of Christopher Bailey, but in an effort to give credit where credit is due, he has delivered some amazing collections. What is bothersome to me, besides him being very over rated, is that the collections bear no continuity other than the ubiquitous trench coat. It might be said that it is the last shred of the original DNA of the brand other than the plaid.

Resort 2016 plays right into what has become the M O for the brand and so many other heritage brands and that is simply presenting collections of clothes ... nondescript unidentifiable clothes whose only purpose is to fill the racks for that particular season. There is no more instant recognition here as there has been no effort from the brand’s design team to develop one.

Yes, the clothes are pretty, as well they should be considering the prices. Yes the animal prints have become somewhat of a signature but they could be attributed to anyone. What is most outstanding is that Bailey has truly massaged the trench coat in the most beautiful and skilled ways. This season, without doubt, the heavy lace trenches are just sublime as well as one “hairy” animal print version … wearable? ... well who knows and who cares.. they are exquisite. All the simple shaped silhouettes show off the incredible fabrications, combinations and permutations of lace in its many forms. What evades me is that other than models who are paid to wear these clothes or the gals who are given these clothes ... who is buying them and where are they wearing them?

What one must credit Bailey, Bravo and Ahrendts with the company developing a HUGE accessory business and that alone might be what supports the marquee category, let alone resuscitated the sleepy brand. In essence, Burberry will always be about trench coat and plaid no matter what comes down that runway season after season. It saddens me that these  great “blue blood”  brands lose sight of who and why they become iconic, yes, yes I am aware that times change and brands must evolve to survive but why always take the easiest path and that is to ignore the history and create a new visual vocabulary which unfortunately  is no longer brand specific.

Yes, the collection is appealing to a very narrow audience, the accessories are very commercial and yet I say so what?