fashion critic

Small Parts To Preserve the Environment

/ Leave a Comment
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Are fashion brands really doing enough?


According to some news, top luxury fashion brands and other popular ones do their small parts to preserve the environment. And, following their reasoning, these “small parts” are enough to make a big difference. But is it true?

Fashion industry & climate change


It is proven that human actions have caused climate change. Also, we know that fashion is a big polluting industry which discards tons of waste everywhere. So, we wonder, what are they trying to say with these pieces of news? How do these messages translate into facts? Are they really making a positive impact?

For instance, in the context of brands doing their small part for a lower-impact fashion industry, a newsletter said that Dior launched a pair of recyclable sneakers. So, they say, the brand is doing its part for climate change. But, for a juggernaut, is this single move enough to preserve our planet?

In today’s world, it’s a common concern whether the sustainability efforts made by corporations are genuine or just a form of greenwashing. Some argue that any small step taken towards sustainability can bring about a positive change. But that could probably work decades ago. At this moment, the situation has gotten so much worse that this news seems ridiculous.

In the face of a climate emergency, forget small steps–we need radical change!

Marketing: the realm of greenwashing


In fact, we agree with those who believe such efforts are simply a PR tactic without any significant systemic change. These news are part of fashion marketing plans, which should be labelled as greenwashing.

Corporations or brands of any size set up their marketing plans and release that kind of information, which has no basis. Magazines, fashion journalists or influencers get paid to share the great news. Hey, it’s business in the end! Who cares if it’s misleading?
The point is that most people take that kind of news for granted. So, whoever shares them is complicit in promoting greenwashing.

Now, please tell us, do you think brands make a big difference by doing their small parts to preserve the environment? Do you really believe it?

Comment here below or WhatsApp directly from here!

Small Parts To Preserve the Environment Read More »

Disappointment With The Fashion Industry

/ Leave a Comment
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Out of the crowd & why


Any disappointment with the fashion industry? Can fashion be a source of frustration? For us, it can be. And we would love to hear your viewpoint on this matter.

Fashion mavericks don’t need to wear, read or do what all the others do. We are independent thinkers who are not afraid to challenge the status quo. Fashion, as the research of niche brands and designers, is still the exciting side of our job. Unknown or less popular brands, most of the time, offer creativity and real quality designs like no others. That is what we select for you. Also, we love mixing garments to create unique outfits.

Mainstream fashion: lowering the bar


But fashion, as the mainstream industry wants it to be, so as it is right now, isn’t exciting. In most fashion brands, there’s a total lack of elegance and style. No creativity, no good design, just marketing. Do you agree with us? Also, there’s no consistency towards the hypothetical sustainable claims. Fundamentally, there is no understanding of how serious the climate emergency is. In fact, the fashion industry is not open to evolution, which is now necessary and much talked about but ignored. However bad the situation is, it is only going to get worse.

As we see it, fashion is a language. Specifically, it’s a reflection of who we are. Indeed, it is a lens through which we can analyse society. So, looking through this lens, what kind of society do we see? 
If you go walking in big towns, most clothing shops and new openings are fast fashion brands. And if you scroll through social media, fast fashion brands have saturated the market. While on holiday, we’ve been to different places: the most present brands were fast to ultra-fast fashion. 

That is what people want. And the fashion industry makes what people want. It seems there’s no escape. But this trend of lowering the bar and erasing any sense of quality is frustrating.

Unique style for unique people


For people like us who love reading, don’t like advertising, and don’t even much like social media’s doped content, the disappointment with this fashion industry is quite profound. We’d buy nothing rather than take the most popular pointless stuff. 

The fashion industry holds so much power in manipulating people. On the other hand, people can access information in order to educate themselves but don’t do it. They follow influencers because they cannot make independent decisions. 

However, as fashion mavericks, we won’t stop making choices out of the crowd. That means stop trusting the fashion industry and follow our own path, creating unique styles for unique people.

What are your thoughts on fashion?

WhatsApp us directly from here or comment below!

Disappointment With The Fashion Industry Read More »

Venice Film Festival

/ Leave a Comment
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Characters in search of an author


It seems the Venice Film Festival has become more of a destination for fashion influencers and aspiring socialites rather than a place for actors and true movie experts.

While the films themselves are still relevant, it is clear that the fluff associated with the festival has taken centre stage, attracting many characters in search of an author.
Who are they? People whose purpose is to get attention, pray to get some shots, which promptly pass through some filters. Then they share on social media. So, they accomplish their intent: show the world how beautiful and fantastic they are.
Who knows what words Pirandello would have found to depict them?

Current trends at Venice Film Festival


However, some call it fashion, as the image and outfits represent modern trends. But the sense of style you can read through their clothes as their behaviour is very questionable.
Clothes do not wrap with elegance and style but uncover begging attention. Puffy and smooth faces, which get bigger and bigger, all looking the same, tell more stories of plastic surgery than movie plots. Faces have never been so scary. By the way, there was a reason why Jane Birkin was an icon, but no one reflects on why.

As a side effect of social media, people with immense egos multiplied. Indeed, these characters in search of an author are trending in all the events, wherever they can get a platform to show themselves to the world.
In fact, because of social media, celebrity culture has shifted the focus away from the artistry of filmmaking and actors to empty personalities having nothing to do with it. But that, on a larger perspective, is happening in every field.

Wouldn’t it be nice to shift the focus back to movies at the Venice Film Festival? A sense of elegance and dreamy atmosphere, actors and people contributing to the industry, just accomplishing the purpose of celebrating cinema in all its forms. Not the fluff.

Venice Film Festival Read More »

Secondhand And Fashion Resale

/ Leave a Comment
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Circularity or marketing trick?


Driven by the popularity of secondhand, the fashion resale market is growing strongly, not only for luxury brands but mass-market brands, too.

“The explosion of cheap, mass-market brands over the last two decades has meant the secondhand market is now awash with polyester party dresses and synthetic sweaters.” via Business Of Fashion.

As a matter of fact, “I’m searching for a little something” – is still the NR 1 customers’ request. In other words, it means a low-priced, easy-to-purchase, easy-to-get-rid-of piece of clothing. Though we don’t sell that product, we often hear that request. That’s what people want! Sadly, the attractive price for clothes is now a burden we all pay. In fact, clothes end up in landfills, where trillions of “little things” are towering, polluting lands and seas. So, you may wonder, was it really so convenient?

Since our wardrobes are packed with clothing, reselling is a way to clean them out. Of course, donating, too, helps.

Secondhand and fashion resale: pros and cons


From the perspective of circularity, reselling represents a valuable opportunity. First, it prevents clothes from ending up in the garbage bin, giving them a longer life. Second, it makes luxury brands accessible.

But, in the case of fast fashion, there’s a big issue with reselling: mass-market brands use circularity to greenwash. Indeed, the fact that fast-fashion brands push people to resell their clothing is a marketing trick. They do it to sell more fast-fashion items. Reselling fast fashion to purchase more fast fashion is pure madness. Instead of limiting the problem, brands make it bigger by feeding the system.

Secondhand and fashion resale make sense for quality products, as clothing made to last deserves a second life, though brands should control production anyway. But it is dangerous with fast fashion. In fact, we’d better avoid producing new garbage at all, which would be the ultimate solution to fashion waste.

How do you make a positive impact? Don’t buy fast fashion. Buy less, far much less, buy better!

Secondhand And Fashion Resale Read More »

Fashion & Global Boiling

/ Leave a Comment
Reading Time: 2 minutes

How can the fashion industry adapt to the extreme weather?


Temperatures are peaking, hitting a record around the globe, and as we have entered the global boiling era, the fashion industry needs to rethink its business models.

“Climate change is here, it is terrifying, and it is just the beginning. The era of global warming has ended and the era of global boiling has arrived.” – said the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres.

Scientists confirmed that July has been one of the world’s hottest months. Of course, what is happening is consistent with the predictions, but the change seems to accelerate faster than expected.

Though Guterres calls for immediate action in order to turn the tide, we are not optimistic. Big corporations will not approach degrowth, which would be the only valuable possibility to reduce our impact on the planet.

For the fashion industry, global boiling means getting ready with a different plan, a leaner way to operate the business. In fact, this new normal makes it difficult to think in terms of foreseeable seasons, as the industry has done so far.

Therefore, fashion brands should rethink how they set up their Spring-Summer collections by presenting patterns, fabrics, and silhouettes designed for a new reality. Most importantly, they need to reconsider how they sell to retailers.

Retailers, on their hand, need to order from brands that allow them to purchase smaller quantities and give them the possibility to reorder. In fact, ordering six months earlier is not really smart since it is impossible to foresee the weather in the long run.

Global boiling: possible solutions for the fashion industry


Pre-order: retailers can show the products to their customers and then pass an order to the brand.
Made-to-order: products made within certain specifications, such as materials, colours, and dimensions, but in a limited range of options.
Customised product: clothes or accessories created for an individual customer, according to their needs and requirements.

Benefits:
All the above models would limit overproduction and fashion waste. Also, they would help improve inventory allocation.
Retailers would sell during the season, limiting frequent markdowns because of overstocking.
Products would keep a higher value throughout the year.

People would purchase fewer garments but better quality.

Something needs to change in the fashion system. The industry must be flexible and adapt to specific seasons and unforeseeable events.

Fashion must consider global boiling, or it will end up boiled.

Fashion & Global Boiling Read More »