contemporary culture

Timeless: A Mindful Buying Approach

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Why it’s crucial and why now


Timeless is a concept that has become quite popular in fashion nowadays. Why? And most of all, why now? Let’s dig deeper into this.

Timeless fashion – just as timeless design in general – refers to classic pieces: items conceived and made to last. But it also includes those pieces that feature such an innovative design that even after many years, they are still ahead of their time, always relevant. Evergreen, indeed. Those pieces end up being copied by other brands who feed themselves on the creativity of more advanced designers. And, if your eyes are a little bit trained, you can see where the inspiration of these items comes from.

Timeless fashion: the only worth investment


Timeless fashion is the only worthy investment. But why has it suddenly gained popularity? Why now?
Now that the system has collapsed, the fashion industry seeks new ways to survive. Timeless is a good strategy because it gives worth back to clothing and its production system. Also, it opens us up to a more thoughtful way of consumption.

Timeless tells you to buy less but better. It is the opposite of disposable clothing, and the opposite of fast fashion.

However, from the very beginning of suite123, about fifteen years ago, we promoted a vision of style that went beyond the rapid consumption of fast fashion. We primarly selected clothes with a distinct stylistic essence—never banal—featuring good design and crafted from beautiful materials. In fact, that is the essence of timelessness: items you can wear forever.

Now we are even more concentrated on this approach. Given the situation we are in, we firmly believe it is a mindful and appropriate choice.

The investment is higher, but it’s the only way to have clothes that last for a long time. A very long time, if you treat them carefully. Timeless fashion is one of the steps we need to take to reduce our impact on the planet.

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The Expiry Date: Fashion Or Mortadella?

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How communication strategies are undermining the fashion industry


Fashion communication – verbal, written and visual – has contributed to undermining the industry. In a world where fast fashion has become synonym of luxury and other similar absurdities, we always feel the need to define what we say. Somehow, we need to restore the meaning in this state of general confusion.

Hysterical mass production has led us to a broken industry incapable of selling the tons of items it produces. In fact, to manage the surplus, products are incinerated, making room for the next manifestation of this insanity.

So, why do niche brands or even high-end designers adopt these practices? Why do they feel compelled to hard-discount merchandise just a few months after its delivery to the stores, devaluing both their products and their brand identity?

“This item is new now, but it’s going to be old in three months or less.” There is no consistency in that.

A devaluing communication


The shallow language to attract consumers focuses not on value but on discounts or influencers:

PRE-SALE! – SALE! – Heavy discounts! – Black Friday! -60% -70%

Who offers less?!

“Today, with the influencers bad taste is everywhere.” – said Mr Valentino to “Il Messaggero”.

Herein lies a significant mistake in the communication and in the messaging of our industry.

When will fashion operators understand we are conceiving, producing, selling and communicating products born out of creativity? The moment we rediscover the value of that process, we’ll acknowledge the mistakes we’ve made.

Treating those products like milk or mortadella, as if they have a fast expiration date, is not a brilliant idea.

We love mortadella, and we also believe it holds more value than the majority of fashion products currently in stores. However, we think the true value of the entire creative process needs to be rediscovered and protected in the making and communication of fashion. It should be seen as something meaningful, timeless, not something to discard as quickly as possible.

What can we do to change?


Brands must produce less, taking extreme care of the entire process.
Heavy discounts should be eliminated, as they are not a healthy, long-term strategy.
People should consume less but better.

Let fast fashion serve its purpose for what is cheap, for people who chose not to see. At the same time, let’s protect and celebrate the timeless value of creativity, quality, and craftsmanship using the right language to support this mission..

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Where Do We Find Value?

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Redefining worth in a world of overabundance


Where do we find value? In a world full of empty marketing claims, unclear manufacturing regulations and massive greenwashing, if you want to buy a product, it’s very hard to differentiate between what is worthy and what is not.

And so, in this jungle, where do we find value?

Thoughtful design and quality


First, we need to define value: it lies in thoughtful design, high-quality standards achieved through good materials and skilled craftsmanship, together with ethical production practices. Respect for people and the planet form the essence of true, modern worth.

That said, we are perfectly aware it’s complicated to identify it. But here and there in our globalized jungle, we can see some lights.

Value: where do we find it?


We find true value in small artisanal brands that blend a creative approach with skilled craftsmanship and the selection of extra-fine quality materials.

We also find value in up-and-coming or unconventional designers who demonstrate a high dose of creativity and innovation but talk to a limited audience because most people see nothing but famous brands.

A good rule of thumb is that higher worth is often found in less popular brands or products. The most recognised brands are rarely the best.

Those elevated products target a niche that has become smaller and smaller because the mainstream offers cheap products or top brands. In full transparency, the state of many top brands is far from exciting. Advertising has done a good job of creating automatons–consumers who rarely lift their eyes to question or show even a minimal level of curiosity.

Although we cannot imagine a world made of sublime products only, the opposite trend is all too evident. If we analyse the state of culture, we can see that lowering the bar has become the prevailing norm. In fact, culture is not in good shape at all.

On the other hand, some individuals remain different–they never stopped reading or searching for unique things. They still think for themselves. By staying outside the mainstream, perhaps people like us can’t reverse the trend, not in the short run, at least. But we must join forces and raise our voices in support of value, because it’s time to stop celebrating mediocrity.

If we cannot reverse the trend, we can still make a difference.

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The Benefit Of Being Different

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How diverging from the norm opens new possibilities


What if we consider being different more valuable than being better than the others?
Let’s focus our attention on worth rather than popularity. The actions we take, the choices we make, the interactions we exchange–and even the things we buy–are all influenced by value. In all this, value is the key.

“Is it worthy?” – This is the question we need to ask.

Conforming to the standards is not what we want. Fashion, beauty, learning, lifestyle standards and all the ideas of the majority, are not for us. There’s a lot of appearance in that, but little value.

People live as if being part of the majority is the cool way to be. Indeed, they talk like others, dress like others, eat what’s popular. Perhaps they don’t have to think that much doing so, conforming requires less thought and less effort, giving them a sense of belonging and protection.

But, the sense of belonging can also be found in smaller communities. In fact, like-minded people can connect to share their vision of the world, which doesn’t necessarily have to align with the majority.

Consider that being different offers its own sense of beauty. A rare object, just like a rare person, is valuable because it’s scarce, uncommon. And it doesn’t need to be like the others. Standardization is not what we are looking for. Little treasures, that’s what we want.

As our beloved Virginia Woolf has pointed out:

“Large groups of people are never responsible for what they do.”

Taking a different path is not easy; it takes courage. But, choosing to be your unique self and holding yourself accountable is a powerful act.

Responsible fashion means holding ourselves accountable for what happens in the short and long run. It is a conscious choice, serving our eventually awakened collective soul.

The key difference is that being better is a matter of ego, being different is a matter of the heart.

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Masculine & Feminine

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Exploring the boundaries of style and the culture behind it


Style plays around the concepts of masculine & feminine. However, the line between them isn’t always well-defined, allowing them to blend and creating more space for freedom and creativity.

Fashion & gender


When selecting items for our boutique, we’ve always kept an eye on men’s clothing. We love picking up men’s items to mix in. In fact, we adore the duality of the masculine-feminine style. Additionally, limiting clothes by gender feels a bit too restrictive for us.

If you were young during the ’80s and ’90s, and your favourite designer was Jean Paul Gaultier–a true creative genius–you would later realise that you had seen everything possible in fashion and life. Forget the fast-fashion era; that was a wonderful time! Creativity was at its peak, and that unforgettable energy created iconic moments in fashion history.
All the concepts now popular in fashion were launched by Gaultier about 40 or 50 years ago. He was ahead of his time, with a unique attitude–definitely a genius!

We can say he was changing culture through fashion.

Masculine, feminine and gender-fluid fashion


Gaultier was the first to introduce diversity and inclusion, laying the groundwork for a gender-fluid fashion. On his catwalks, we saw everything–men wearing skirts, women in oversized suits, and a celebration of different body shapes. ‘Love yourself as you are and play with clothes’ sounded so beautiful to us.
Gaultier’s fashion has shaped our vision to a point that now, everything feels like it’s already been seen. Perhaps he took us to another planet, one made of love, acceptance and play.

Perhaps fashion evolved faster than society’s ability to adapt to the changes.

“Too much comfort is not good for creation.” One of his brilliant quotes invites us to reflect on the specific moment we are living.

Discomfort plays a role in creativity. We must remember it.

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