March 6, 2019

So again this week's goodies from The Financial Times are delicious.....
 

Diane Von Firstenberg

First off is a great article on Diane von Firstenberg at the ripe old age of 73, is still a force in fashion - maybe not as one might thinking -- leading fashion trends, but more from a Gestalt point of view - that means she has more of a big picture in mind. 

      

From the wife of German princely royalty to a household name in fashion, to the grande dame of her own label, she has struck quite a path for her children and grandchildren to follow. And now she wishes to pass on her knowledge and power to women.  This spring (March 12) she will start her own podcast "In Charge with DVF" which will be fun to pick up and see what she has to contribute. 

The Takeaway - this is a natural cycle that mankind follows in his/her life....we have a challenge (sometimes it's simply life) and then we meet it, overcome it, and come back home and pass on the knowledge we learned on our challenge.  I'd like to think we all do that - it gives back (in a dramatically real way) to the next generation and hopefully makes their life at least a little easier, but most of all able to go on their own challenge and succeed and return the knowledge they learn and on and on. 

This reminds me of John Adams famous quote:
I will be a warrior, that my son may be a merchant, and his son may be a poet.
The sacrifice of every generation before and then to pass on the information of that sacrifice is the most valuable gift we can give the next generation. 

Bravo Diane!!!

 

Chanel without Karl

 

This is always a huge challenge when a major influence in fashion passes on.  When Chanel died, the house languished in horrid blandness and no sort of updating at all.


 















Somehow the photo on the left taken in the 1960s is so much fresher and better looking than the photo taken on the right almost 20 years later.   This is the drab, frumpy look Chanel had taken on.

Imagine then when Karl came then in 1985 and breathed such fresh air into the line. 


















To the point that the whole jacket had a complete new meaning and new importance.  So much so that it was memorialized on the cover of the New Yorker Magazine.













The cartoon makes a very salient point that Karl had updated the jacket so it was worn by the venerable old guard and the edgy new divas.  The jacket was once again new.

The genius of Karl became a standard by which all other houses would be compared.  How could St. Laurent come back?.... Givenchy?...Dior?...Balenciaga?...Balmain?  Karl had struck such a dramatic path of success that the other major houses have had problems following.
 

Now that Karl's gone, there's a lot missing....

...in the year-later show of the House of Chanel - no theme, narrative, show sets are simpler, less costly, and absent of the rockets or life-sized supercharchés of Lagerfeld.  Instead, the show featured plain-mirrored catwalk, lightly misted between white-and-black risers....  ...The waistless black velvet dresses look comfortable and easy after a week of sharp waists and skin-tight latex.


What often happens in a style change such as what we're going through now is that the change it over-exaggerated.  It's done like this so the designer can make a very dramatic statement.  For example the way Dior went completely different from the World War II ration look to the vive la difference look.

From this:                                                  to this:













This made a huge impact - a revolutionary one, but had it put forth a design like this:
Yeah - it would have been a fuller skirt, and definitely a lot more yardage to make, but not nearly the impact that the New Look suit would make.













That same sort of thing is happening now, and Karl's assistant, Virginie Viard, is now head creative director and her ideas are probably a little more practical, and far less fantastical, which may be nice after the huge profile that Karl set for the house. 

My guess is though she won't last.  Fashion houses, thrive on controversy and Karl could dish it out deluxe:
~"Sweatpants are a sign of defeat.  You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants!"
~On former muse, Ines de la Fressange:  "I wish her lall the luck in the world, just so long as I don't have to see her anymore or hear her spoken about."
~"I had an interview once with some German journalist - some horrible ugly woman.  She wore a yellow sweater that was kind of see-through.  She had huge tits and a huge black bra and then she said to me: 'It's impolite; remove your glasses.' I said, 'Do I ask you to remove your bra?'"
~"If I was a woman in Russia, I would be a lesbian, as the men are very ugly.  There are a few handsom ones, like Naomi Cambell's boyfriend, but there you see the most beautiful women and the most horrible men."

Well, with comments like that, it's like you can't wait to see his next show - or at the least it would get some publicity.  Karl knew just how far to push the button and how to keep it from being horribly controversial. 

The bottom line is that he was a genius, and it may take another 30 years to find another one like that.

The Takeaway for we sewists - the more things stay the same, the more things change, and as they change, we sewists can stay far ahead of the curve, whatever direction it takes and don't have to be mind-readers or savants who can see into the future.  We can take our inspiration from all that's going on, and as giants go, others will come (see below about Clare Waight Keller).

 

Controversy At The Paris Shows #PFW (Paris Fashion Week)

As the last week of the Paris shows finish, it's evident that there are definitely have and have nots.  The big houses can afford to put on magnificent shows and the independent designers can't and it shows.  The big houses can afford to attract a lot of attention of the Chinese houses, which is where most of their sales go.  Louis Vuitton (with the absence of Karl) put on the biggest show

with dimmed lights, stage curtain lifted to reveal 200 choral singers standing in wooden gallery, outfitted in an array of period costumes -- Elizabethan, Victorian, the Roaring '20s -- designed by costumier Milena Canonero of film director Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange fame. 

Interesting indeed - this is my cousin, and will have to chat with her about the inside track on what that was all about.  Although she has almost a 6th sense about grasping what directors and producers are looking for in costume when they come calling.  I'm sure designers are no problem for her and my bet this was a fairly easy and simple quick job for her considering what she has to do for movies.  

But this shows the production level of the big shows in Paris anymore.  It's like be big or go home.  What's the independent designer supposed to do?  My answer is come to America where you can not only have you own house, but don't have to show back-breaking schedules being responsible for 300+ original designs per year. 

I think that the independent designers are the life-blood of design.  Thinking of Pabal Gurung, Zac Posen, Jason Wu were all once in this category and now have their own houses and show 2 shows a year - spring and fall.  If they had compete with the likes of Vuitton or Lagerfeld, they would still be languishing on the side lines. 

The Takeaway - Even though it's my cousin, I'm suspect of big shows - like the barker on the midway, I'm really more interested in looking at the independents and seeing what they are doing...I'll put my money on Gurung, Posen and Wu, thankyouvermuch.  On the other hand I'm glad my cousin got the job, cause my bet is that she was paid and hopefully she got a lot and some great publicity!

 

The Up-And-Coming Second-Hand Market

While the retail industry tries to figure out a way to keep from being opted out of the clothing selling business (more and more designers are going from their house directly to the customer online), some of those solutions is the second-hand and rental markets.  Retailers like Vetiaire Collection, The RealReal, ThredUp, Depop all appear to be worming in on the second-hand market. 

The thinking is that people would be more interested in purchasing second-hand in a way to be more sustainable, while the purchasers wondering if they can afford the originals, know that they have a market after they've finished with the originals can sell them in the second-hand market.  According to FT, "The global second-hand clothing market including thrift as well as resale will more than double to $51bn in the five years to 2023...and exceed fast fashion within a decade.  Fast enough, in other words, to make fast fashion look decidedly slow."

This shows the depths and far-reaching tentacles of the fast/cheap fashion business model.  This model is so addictive and profitable that giving it up, even though it sells fashions that are totally out-of-style, sells clothes that are not durable nor sustainable, also out-of-style, but it continues to be a huge curse on the fashion industry that they can't seem to kick.

As much as the fashionistas are the proponent of sustainable, earth-friendly, animal-friendly fashion, the practical side is that it's simply...well...not practical.  This is another article reporting on another way the fashion industry is trying to cope with staying conscious and appearing responsive to the trends and customers of the day and yet maintain a profitable bottom line. 

So far my money's on Clare Waight Keller - she's showing up to be the new Karl on the Paris scene, with her designs for Maison Givenchy, they are wearable and imminently inspiring clothes - particularly for we folks. 

The Takeaway - if fast/cheap fashion is in the second-hand market, what can our beautiful clothes bring?  I've been doing this for decades and for decades I would donate my clothes to the local second-hand store.  They would be cleaned and in perfectly great shape (I would replace the buttons and keep them), but it had my label in it and they would sell as well or better than the local designer clothes because they were so beautifully made.  That's the takeaway.  If you know a local consignment shop, you can have your clothes cleaned (they usually like them in the cleaning bag), if you have a nice label, put it in and once they see the workmanship on them, they know they will get a lot for them.  This way you pay a consignment fee and get the $$$ to go buy more fabric, to make more for you to enjoy, and later sell. 

This second-hand market trend could be a boom for we sewists!

Lots of cool stuff on the Financial Times Style section, it's looking pretty bleak about quitting the subscription.  If this section of the paper is delivering this much good info, I might have to break down and subscribe!!!!!  But lucky you - you all will get the articles for free - and only the best ones (I don't include the junk stuff that means little or nothing.)

 

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