What happened to the fashion industry?
If you want to understand the events that caused the decline of luxury, we suggest you read ‘Deluxe: How luxury lost its luster’ – written by Dana Thomas.
You will discover how fashion from being a family-owned business became a corporate battlefield based on overproduction.
The growth of the new markets – China, Russia, and India. The explosion of counterfeiting goods and labour exploitation.
Then, the rise of fast fashion, internet retailers and the development of a fast-paced globalized system. How luxury products abandoned exclusivity and shifted to the masses. Creating the so-called democratic luxury. Which basically is nonsense. Indeed, it shows how far marketing rhetoric can go, playing with words to manipulate people.
The book is a brilliant analysis of the field, investigating the dynamics that led to an auto-implosion.
Also, it allowed us to relive the last 30 years of fashion. We assisted many of those events – not by accepting them but by moving more and more towards niche designers. Finding a kind of refuge in a tiny universe. A thoughtful research in dissonance with the average fashion consumer.
Though we agree with almost everything, we do not align with the devotion to some brands. We are afraid they have lost their luster too, so far. Except for Hermes and Cadolle.
Indeed, retracing the decline of luxury, it is now extremely difficult to find meaning in fashion Maisons. They seem like smoke and mirrors set up to sell perfumes, make-up and bags. Abundantly offered to masses that have no perception beyond the logo and the illusion of being considered rich.
If you still love fashion, you go beyond that fake facade and search for designers who dared to undertake an independent path, expressing an authentic creative vision. In this panorama, the ability to select the right clothing – from an aesthetic and ethical viewpoint – changes the game.