In Spades

Style... in abundance

Fashion Friday

Tiko Paksa Resort 20Last week for Fashion Friday, I talked about the price of fashion – why clothing costs what it does.

We broke down the cost of a fast fashion t-shirt versus a luxury t-shirt and found that, on average, fast fashion is marked up 6 times, and luxury is marked up once (double the cost).  Check out the video for details.

Of course, for luxury fashion you are paying for more than just the garment.  For example, real estate (strip mall vs. Park Avenue boutique).  Sales force (seasonal mall employee vs. an Hermes sales associate).  Marketing (glossy magazine ads), material (fabric made in Italy vs. China), manufacturing (pattern makers vs. designers with salaries), and production (made in USA vs. Asia) all play a part.

This prompted a poll.  I was curious to know whether you were more interested in a fashion item if it was designer, limited edition or hard to get.  50% of you said you weren’t.  Personally, if something is limited edition or hard to get I absolutely want it more.  I love the thrill of the (fashion) hunt, finding diamonds in the rough and investing in pieces that are unique.  I don’t want what everyone else has.

What about you?

I also asked if you shopped strictly by budget or if knowing a garment’s origin was important (even if it meant paying more).  60% of you said that you’re willing to pay more if you know the garment is ethically sourced and well made.

I loved having this conversation with you.  It’s an interesting view of the current fashion landscape.  When did we start buying more for less money? (Answer: the 80s when fast fashion was born.)  And will we ever get back to the days when having a higher quality but lower quantity is the norm?

Here are some of my favorite ethical, high quality, affordable brands

Naadam
Everlane
Cuyana
For Days
Amour Vert
Able
Girlfriend Collective
Patagonia
Levi’s

Fashion Friday

LoveShackFancy x TargetIt’s Fashion Friday and I’m on vacation!

This summer we’ve been taking every opportunity to get outside and do things we weren’t able to do last summer.  While I won’t have a Fashion Friday video for you on Instagram, I did want to share this perfect summer dress.

It’s LoveShackFancy for Target and it checks all the boxes for my ideal summer dress.  It’s short, 100% cotton and has 3/4 length sleeves.  I love pairing it with sneakers for a casual daytime look, and heels for a night out.

While it’s no longer available, I love these other options from the brand.  If you missed my blue version from this brand, check it out here.

Enjoy your weekend, and I’ll be back to regular programming next week!

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Fashion Friday

Two of my greatest loves are fashion and film.  I’ve always been fascinated with how they intersect.  Breakfast at Tiffany’s certainly would not be the same without all of that stunning Givenchy.  What would Indiana Jones be without his hat?  Would Dorothy have gotten home if the ruby slippers were just plain satin pumps?

A good wardrobe is like another character in a film.  It makes the screen come to life in a way that a flesh and blood actor can’t.  But it wasn’t always as revered as it is today.

I’m listening to a fabulous podcast – No Place Like Home – that prompted today’s Fashion Friday.

In the 1960’s, there wasn’t really a market for movie memorabilia.  Costumes and props weren’t considered valuable (or very important) once a picture wrapped.  Things weren’t archived like they are today.  They were put in storage closets and forgotten about.

But in the early 70’s, the old Hollywood model changed.  Studios were making big-budget pictures – pictures that went over budget – and found themselves needing to offload liabilities to get some positive cashflow.  They started with their backlots.

Backlots were basically storage facilities.  They housed original scripts, photos, props… and costumes.  From a financial perspective, the studios deemed the contents junk.  And before they could sell off the backlot real estate, they needed to “get rid of the junk.”

According to historians, all of this movie memorabilia was to be incinerated.  Save for the machinery and furniture, which was going to auction, employees could take what they pleased.  What was left, was to be destroyed.

A costume designer named Kent Warner was a true fashion and film lover.  He is the one who found Dorothy’s ruby slippers – among TONS of other famous movie costumes – in these backlots and saved them from incineration.  He convinced the studio execs to auction off some of the film’s most famous costumes.

It was this shift, that set the movie memorabilia market into overdrive.  The fashion these beloved characters wore became extremely important and valuable.  Had it not been for Kent Warner, we likely wouldn’t see Dorothy’s ruby slippers in the Smithsonian.  Or Rocky’s boxing gloves.  Or have an entire industry for movie memorabilia.

I love this story.  It’s a perfect example of how something that was once considered junk was actually a diamond in the rough.  Our cultural fabric is in part tied to these pieces.  When I see Marty’s Nike Power Laces or Keanu’s leather trenchcoat I’m transported to another place.

Fashion – as I’ve always known – is transformative.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Fashion Friday

Stephane Rolland Haute CoutureFollowing Balenciaga’s F/W 21-22 Couture collection, I had a lot of questions.  What?  Why?  Spoiler: I did not enjoy it.

After talking to a friend about haute couture, I realized there are a lot of interesting questions surrounding this surrealist art form.  Mainly, how sustainable is it?  Doesn’t it seem like a waste to spend all of the time and money on a garment that you’ll only wear once?

I did some digging and came up with some fascinating answers.

What happens to couture after it walks the runway?

Couture looks are photographed and put into a lookbook.  For the 4000 couture clients around the world – only 200 of which are regular buyers – they simply select their choices from the lookbook and begin the fitting process.

“I’ll take a Dior #3, please.”

The pieces will likely do a roadshow and appear in editorial, on the red carpet, maybe even a museum, before going into the brand’s archive.

Any couture looks that aren’t purchased will never be made again.  This is strictly a one-of-a-kind art form.

How much does it cost and who buys it?

Compared to 1950 when the world had roughly 20,000 buyers, the couture market has drastically shrunk.  The 4000 or so socialities, princesses and other royalty who wear it spend between $30,000 and $350,000 per garment.  Some dresses take up to 60,000 hours to make (all by hand!) and cost as much as $1 million.

Interestingly, there is a much larger percentage of young couture buyers than I anticipated.  The varies from brand to brand, but Chanel and Dior reportedly sell almost 40% of their couture collections to women under 40.

Is couture really sustainable?

Yes and no.  For some brands, like Elie Saab, almost half of their total sales come from couture.  I tried to find data on what percentage of couture looks go unsold but was unsuccessful.  So as a business model, some brands clearly depend on this revenue.

From an eco-perspective, couture is clearly something you will never get rid of.  It won’t end up in a landfill.  The fabrics used to create couture garments are of the highest quality, and although in some cases a lot of said fabric is needed, only what is needed is used.  Brands will keep small amounts of fabric for archival purposes, but this is not a situation where you have a warehouse full of unused textiles.

Finally, the idea of owning well-made garments tailored to fit your body is timeless.  The world used to be a place of “less is more” but in today’s world of trend after trend, what’s new and fresh has taken priority.

Perhaps if we took a note from the made-to-last couture model, we could turn fast fashion ship.

Image via IMAXTREE.

Data sourced from The Fashion Law.

Fashion Designer Archetypes

Fashion Designer archetypes

As I was pondering the impact of Balenciaga’s first haute couture show in 50 years (more on that tomorrow), it hit me.

Fashion essentially has two types of designers – The Technical Master and The Marketer.  While there are of course exceptions, most creative directors fall into one of these two archetypes.

Before I unpack these archetypes, let me be clear.  Designers who reach creative director status have technical skills – and good ones at that.  But the true Technical Masters see design like The Matrix.  A sequenced code falling before their eyes in patterns only they can decipher.  Their understanding of cut, shape, silhouette and texture is unparalleled.

If the Technical Master sees a dress, the Marketer sees a woman.

Marketers, on the other hand, see a woman.  Who is their woman?  What is important to her?  How does she live her life?

Marketers know these answers so profoundly they actually bring this woman to life – and make everyone else want to be her.

So how do these two archetypes affect fashion and you as a consumer?

When fashion conglomerates were formed in 1980s, the era of The Technical Master faded.  Design houses with strong love-it-or-leave-it DNA now had to become… commercially viable.  Hence the rise of The Marketer.  Fragrance lines, accessories and beauty products joined the mix and a trajectory that was once about garments became multi-channel licensing.

For us as consumers, we now saw a design house – like Balenciaga, for instance – go from creating sack dresses and balloon coats to a streetwear brand.  Their brand DNA was altered.  It became more about marketing the brand than focusing on the technical mastery that once set it apart.

From that transition, fashion trends, and our expectations, were altered.  Classic elements were quieted in favor of “what’s new, now?” and “how fast can I get it?”  If Balenciaga showed a minimalistic 90s look, Zara copied it within 3 weeks.  The fast fashion machine began churning at a breakneck pace.

Brands became more interested in hiring Marketers as creative directors than Technical Masters.  They, after all, primed the bottom line.

If you look at the big designers of our time, the originals – Hubert de Givenchy, Cristóbal Balenciaga – gave us technical mastery.  The modern-day successors – look at what Alessandro Michele did for Gucci – exemplify marketing genius.

There are two designers who I think are Technical Masters that became accidental Marketers just by designing clothes they themselves wanted to wear.  And one designer whom I think was equally strong in both archetypes.

Join me on Instagram for the rest of the story.

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Images via IMAXTREE