With less money in luxury, fast fashion rises
The industry's best names keep lending their credibility to the the worst kinds of brands.
Have you, like us, noticed a shift in fashion recently, whereby highly-respected names that once wouldn’t have associated with fast fashion brands are now happy to collaborate? Why?
But first, the news.
In news that isn’t technically fashion but feels spiritually aligned (Paris, luxury jewels, drama), eight priceless diamond-encrusted objects have been stolen from the Louvre by a gang of presumed professional thieves in hi-vis jackets with a truck and basket lift, an angle grinder, and a dream. It’s not the first time the museum has lost significant items of its vast collection to thieves – the Mona Lisa was stolen (and recovered three years later) in the early 20th century after a decorator hid in a cupboard overnight – but it does feel more impressive in the age of hyper-surveillance and security. Maybe they deserve to keep them?
An appointment we didn’t see coming but makes total sense: Aaron Esh is now the Chief Creative Officer of AllSaints. The CSM grad joins a brand that has, against the odds, managed to weather the challenges mounted against British high streets and stay profitable. Still, its physical stores are making less and less money and, at a higher price point than the faster fashion behemoths that sit next door (more on these guys further down), it won’t be a straightforward job for Aaron. Appointments like this – new voices in big structures – have felt pretty rare recently. But in luxury, Duran Lantink at Jean Paul Gaultier, Meryll Rogge at Marni, and Diotima at Proenza Schouler have all taken the industry (pleasantly) by surprise. More of this please!
Kering is selling its €4 billion beauty division to L’Oreal. The French conglomerate will focus on fashion and ease up its debts to put its shareholders (<3) at ease. Kering has struggled recently with Gucci sales declining. The recently launched beauty division was supposed to ease those pressures, but only mounted more debt. So, guess it’s all riding on Demna now.
Speaking of luxury conglomerates... Delphine Arnault, of the Arnaults and CEO of Dior, will receive special recognition at this year’s Fashion Awards for championing emerging design talent over her career. Spearheading the launch of the LVMH Prize in 2014, Delphine has shaped one of – if not the most – prestigious and coveted prizes in fashion. However, there’s so much more these multi-billion-pound groups and their various luxury brands could be doing to make the industry fairer. Dior Men’s support of the BFC Foundation MA Scholarship, another LVMH initiative, for example, funds one UK-based menswear design student every two years. One scholarship every two years? We know uni fees are high, but Delphine…
And the British Met Gala looked a bit meh? The pink theme gave it the feeling of a gender reveal party. Our digital editor from Greece did not appreciate the sight of stolen marbles from the Parthenon decorating a dining area. Janet Jackson was there…
When Zara opened in 1975, it was, as you’d expect, a much simpler operation than today. The shop produced small batches of high-end styles at low prices for the locals of A Coruña in the north-west of Spain. Now, half a century later, it’s believed to produce roughly 450 million garments a year. “Fast fashion” – a sinister, epoch-defining phrase – was coined by The New York Times specifically to talk about Zara’s mode of production.
Laid out this plainly, you wouldn’t expect the luxury fashion industry to have much to do with Zara’s 50th birthday celebrations. Put aside, for a second, the ecological catastrophe it presides over – one so vast it’s impossible to actually quantify – and just consider its business model from day one: reproducing existing ideas using cheaper materials and, as time went on, cheaper labour. If artisanal, handcrafted haute couture sits right at the top of the fashion industry pyramid, then surely these cheap, exploitative garments must sit right at the bottom, no?
Well, no. As part of its celebratory campaign, the brand (a word that feels too small, twee, for what it actually is) recently announced a collection of 50 items designed by 50 noted industry figures. And noted is not an understatement: