It's a big mess. The world is changing - not always for the better - and we have to keep up with the changes, but there is a way to do it!
As Karl Lagerfeld puts it bluntly, fashion and luxury are currently going through a period of turbulence. An exponential number of brands are being created with varying degrees of success, supply is constantly increasing and much faster than demand. We then find a consumer who is often lost, whether he is shopping at Chevignon or Gucci.
So what's going on right now?
Ah! How far away Karlito's youth is. At that time, there were only two collections per year and Haute Couture was flourishing...
I suggest that we first make some observations and understand their consequences for brands and our relationship with fashion. Then, we will see that new economic models are appearing in all ranges, which risk profoundly changing the face of this sector.
Fast fashion: when fashion and luxury move too fast
You will have noticed: fashion focuses more on quantity than quality today and the impact on the consumer is real. Despite what one might believe, the world of luxury is not spared...
What is fast fashion ?
Fashion must always offer more and go faster. The fast fashion industry is now the norm, with a simple objective: to ride the wave of obsolescence to its climax and offer new collections several times a month, very affordable, to make the consumer addicted to novelty .
A good illustration to evoke the idea that brands "disgorge" monstrous quantities of clothing.
It is because of this mechanism that you hear people around you say "I prefer to change often rather than buy quality" : having new clothes becomes an end in itself... And in view of the underlying trend that constitutes this bulimia for cheap new things, the fast fashion strategy works wonderfully.
Chains where millions of people rush every day to buy a poor quality product manufactured in monstrous quantities... H&M / McDo = same fight.
Cynically, perhaps we should even acknowledge that by upsetting the relationship with clothing and fashion to this extent, "fast fashion" is one of the most successful marketing concepts ever created.
However, while it costs little to the consumer who only thinks in the short term, purchase by purchase, there is still a price to pay. We will see that the consequences are numerous.
Note: of course, fast fashion sometimes seems like the only possible option (typical example with a student), which obviously changes the situation. Our goal is not to make H&M public enemy number 1, simply to draw your attention to the practices of this type of brand and their impacts.
An impact on several levels
The first consequence of this endorsement of a fashion without conscience concerns both those who manufacture it and... everyone else. Directly first, because their factory catches fire, collapses or because the imposed pace is inhuman and dangerous for health: I am barely exaggerating. Indirectly then, because of the impact of textile production on the environment (air, water, soil...).
Several associations and professionals have warned of the dangerous impact that fashion (and in particular cheap fashion) has on the environment and those who produce it.
From a more structural point of view, fast fashion significantly affects the consumer. Through various articles published previously, we were able to highlight the total loss of "reference points" with regard to first the quality, then the fair price of fashion.
This explains the need for beginners to understand what a well-made garment is - in particular by examining certain criteria (materials, manufacturing, details, etc.) - and then to know the brands offering good value for money in order to "re-format" themselves.
We all know that a nice pair of shoes, without necessarily costing a month's salary, has a certain price. But it's always a pleasure to buy less to buy better!
A pair of jeans doesn't cost €30 and doesn't need to be changed every two months. A winter coat isn't made of acrylic or polyester and isn't supposed to get damaged at the end of the season. A pair of shoes for €250 made in Europe with a sewn assembly is not a "luxury", but a fair price for a product that is also intended to last over time.
Does this seem obvious to you? Of course, you are readers of BonneGueule. 🙂 But what about those around you?
Luxury and fast fashion: is the exception disappearing?
First of all, I would like to give you my definition of this overused term. It is subjective, but it is ultimately almost impossible to establish an objective definition. In my opinion, luxury combines three essential elements:
- Technique : luxury always expresses mastery, very specific know-how AND a history. Depending on the country, local know-how can also influence a designer's work. Luxury is also a powerful vector of innovation: perfecting or inventing methods is often the business of large houses in order to stand out. We can think of Chanel and its unique jacket construction, Versace and its work with metal mesh, Hermès and its saddle stitch transposed to leather goods... And since we are talking about luxury, manufacturing in the country where the know-how was born and has perpetuated it seems essential to me.
Bespoke, the ultimate luxury of men's suits, is the result of techniques developed over the centuries, particularly in England and Italy.
- Beauty : the term may make you smile, but the search for beauty seems to me to be the most powerful driving force behind luxury. Whether through an experience (tasting, a stay in an exceptional hotel) or in the style of a garment, the aesthetic dimension is absolutely crucial. Some luxury brands start from a strong artistic proposition, but others like Loro Piana affirm a constant search for simplicity.
Versace adopts an aesthetic that is both sexy and technically virtuoso, unique in the fashion landscape.
- Rarity/nobility : luxury is defined by contrast with what is banal/common. I tend to place the cursor quite high on this point: a wool coat, even if perfectly cut and made, is in my opinion a high-end product. Conversely, a double-sided cashmere coat with silk sleeve lining is a luxury item. The exceptional aspect of luxury is therefore very linked to this notion of rarity of know-how (embroidery, tailoring, cuts, etc.) and materials (vicuna, crocodile, lotus fiber, etc.).
The "researchers" of the Loro Piana house met women on the banks of a Burmese lake with a know-how that is unique in the world: that of making fabric from lotus fiber. €5,000 per meter for an absolutely exceptional material.
To quote Kapférer, price does not make luxury : it is not because we put an exorbitant price on a product that it is luxurious, it is because the product itself is luxurious that we almost "have" to sell it dearly.
Today, the term "luxury" is used in all sauces: everyone wants to be part of it. On the one hand, there are these brands that have never been luxurious but shamelessly claim to be: the Americans are very good at that, with Coach, Michael Kors, Alexander Wang... European labels also create special items for the USA where logos on coated canvases replace noble and sober leathers.
The BEAUTIFUL monogrammed plastic-coated canvas by Coach, and the SU-PERB plastic-like leather by Michael Kors. Because it's sold for a lot of money on 5th Avenue in a beautiful boutique, it's supposed to be luxury.
On the other hand, there are brands that surf on their glorious past to deceive the consumer and sell them a false luxury : it is packaged like luxury, expensive like luxury, shiny like luxury but manufactured industrially like a mass product. The "magic" is maintained by communication, the objective being to create around a banal product (a trench coat made in China, for example) a universe hammering the codes of the sector (packaging, boutiques, etc.).
A cotton blazer with very rough armholes, sold for €900. White cotton trousers with pockets that can be seen through, sold for €400. This, gentlemen, is a complete sham: Lanvin and Dsquared are using a "styling effect" as an excuse to justify cheap and approximate manufacturing... expensive as luxury, however.
Farewell to noble materials, impeccable cuts and legendary solidity! Givenchy, Prada, Lanvin, Armani, Louis Vuitton... All of them seem today much more professional in merchandising than in the manufacture of noble products: they keep a very limited range of "real" luxury but make their money on monogrammed items.
Obviously, this trend should not suggest that there are no longer any Houses committed to true luxury: there are still some very beautiful ones!
JJ Martin, a Milanese journalist, however, sums up the overall state of the sector well:
Today, there is no difference in the way you sell a bag or toothpaste.
As the ratios are reversed (luxury "copies" the fast fashion model), the "magic" of brands disappears. The great designers leave the big Houses one after the other, emptied by the imposed pace of "creation". Some labels see their figures collapse, their products no longer make people dream. The customer, much less loyal than before, flits from one brand to another according to the ephemeral hype of each.
Is it too late to save luxury?
Raf Simons (Dior), Alessandro Sartori (Berluti), Alber Elbaz (Lanvin), Massimiliano Giornetti (S. Ferragamo), Stefano Pilatti (Zegna), Brendan Mullane (Brioni)... All this in less than a year and so on, it's a slaughter.
To sum up this first part, we could finally say that everyone is a little lost. The consumer is stuffed with advertisements that brands use like a syringe to inject an artificial need for novelty.
Fast fashion is so financially successful that luxury brands and groups have been fooled, entering into a race for quantity that is absolutely contradictory to the very definition of luxury. Until the implosion...
Towards a marked split between fast fashion and sustainable fashion
Faced with an undeniable feverishness in the fashion and luxury industry, several types of response have emerged. The Americans are trying to give the luxury industry a new model while, on the other hand, small mass-market brands are shaking up the consumption patterns that were thought to be immutable.
A controversial concept: see now, buy now
I mentioned above different approaches to luxury, opposing a "modern" vision based on communication and the brand universe to another more conservative one, focusing heavily on "real" luxury, that of a well-made product.
Beyond the business model itself, it is possible to establish a link with a "cultural" factor. Americans are in fact almost all in a marketing luxury, while the old continent retains Houses with a much nobler vision of luxury.
Transforming a total masquerade bordering on plagiarism into a "genius collection" thanks to money and marketing: a very American concept (but not only).
It's no wonder that the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) is looking to generalize a whole new economic and event model: see now, buy now. The concept is simple: the show takes place and, immediately after, the collection is available for sale . It is actually about flirting with the very large media exposure that the show offers, by generating purchases immediately afterwards.
Traditionally, the "show" as they say takes place about 6 months before the collection arrives in stores, the time to allow buyers, journalists and the brand (manufacturing...) to do their jobs. With this system, the presentation takes place at the beginning of the season for a complete synchronization with the distribution.
Department stores (Louvre Matengo, the ideal setting for Zola's book "Au bonheur des Dames"), websites and other multi-brand boutiques placed orders after the fashion shows.
Versus Versace (the brand's second line) was one of the very first to offer a collection for sale online a few minutes after the show, but the real trigger was British. Burberry announced at the beginning of the year that it would only do two shows per year (men's and women's), each with summer and winter collections, which would be available for sale the next day in their stores. Everyone got excited, Tom Ford followed and the CFDA is now proposing to make "see now, buy now" a model for everyone.
From the live video of the fashion show, Burberry offers one-click purchases of the looks presented.
Except that in Europe, we don't hear it that way. Ralph Toledano, president of the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture, immediately refused to let such a model be imposed in France, joined by his Italian counterparts . Only Gucci announced the merger of the men's and women's shows, without however accepting direct sales. This is where the split is perhaps most visible.
In Paris in particular, you can attend some rather "confidential" fashion shows, those of young designers for whom "see now, buy now" has no meaning. Here, the Mihara Yasuhiro fashion show last January.
The "creative" or craft brands that are mostly found in Europe have much longer manufacturing processes than the Americans; this is a reality that customers understand perfectly. Waiting is even a way to maintain desire, and this has been the case for over a century since Haute Couture appeared.
Similarly, small emerging brands registered at fashion weeks do not have the financial scale or stability to take the risk of producing before presenting their collections. Consequently, what was supposed to be a revolutionary new model could ultimately be nothing more than a sword that definitively splits two visions of luxury.
Some French brands offer creative and high-quality fashion, which takes time to produce.
However, the underlying problem has not been resolved. Dior and Vuitton continue to squeeze the "artistic" teams like lemons in order to force them to produce more collections, more bags, more quantity and newness: fast fashion is indeed part of their DNA. But the resounding departures of the great designers are worrying because, without artistic stability, these Houses are nothing.
At the time of the Family Houses, the founder managed, manufactured and created his products at his own pace.
Maybe they are doomed to sell bags like toothpaste until the end... And in this case, they will only have themselves to blame: by destroying know-how and good manners to save money, they will end up incapable of producing anything other than €1,800 heat-sealed suits.
The Houses that have been able to resist and remain faithful to a demanding vision of luxury have, I believe, much to gain in the years to come : when brands are definitively trivialized as is dangerously the case for Prada (among others), customers looking for exception will naturally turn to honest luxury houses.
If at the top of the price pyramid tempers are flaring and the houses of cards are beginning to totter, we are seeing a new wave of young brands coming to shake things up...
New brands focusing on quality: the emergence of a parallel fashion
While the offer of the major global brands continues to grow, to the point that some are suffocating with their own volumes, no one can ignore what is happening in France in particular on the textile market.
I am of course talking about the emergence of a new - almost alternative - range of young brands with a strong identity. What sets them apart from the others is this desire to offer fashion that focuses on quality rather than quantity , and to extract themselves a little from "trends".
L'Exception is a fairly pioneering e-shop in its selection of (often) young, high-quality and innovative brands.
At the heart of this approach, there is a certain conception of sustainability, since beyond more personal styles, less imbued with what others do, these brands are betting on quality BUT affordable manufacturing. Less advertising, online sales without intermediaries, lower margins: each has its strategy to avoid inflating prices with the superfluous .
The most interesting thing about this approach is that while it may have been observed out of the corner of the eye with a certain condescension on the part of the "all-powerful" mainstream brands, their impact is today much greater than expected.
Is Zara Selvedge Really Selvedge, Or Just Denim With Red Trim?
How did selvedge, which was ultra-confidential until recently, end up very recently in Zara's offering? Why are some major brands suddenly starting to favor "basic" lines that favor 100% natural materials? What could have pushed these major brands to invest in new eco-responsible productions (or at least, sold as such)?
I think above all that these young brands, in addition to their own conception of fashion, have been able to capture the need for an offer that makes sense , barely perceptible a short while ago. To be clearer, I think we are facing a very interesting situation in which the timing was perfect : on the one hand, some took the risk of offering alternative products in terms of quality to what we find almost everywhere, on the other hand we had a consumer who was a little fed up, tired, but also a little "stuck" by the mainstream offer.
Editions Mr aka Melinda Gloss has largely influenced this trend of quality brands focused on noble materials.
Of course, some brands have failed to find a loyal customer base, but it is no exaggeration to note the existence of a new fashion ecosystem in France . Even if the entire market has not been completely turned upside down, we can clearly see that an underlying trend is taking hold, embodying a new demand for quality, sustainability and transparency.
On a more personal level, I think that this need to give meaning to fashion will also be very strongly felt in the luxury sector. Enough to ensure good days for independent media and critics 🙂
