InsaneJournal

The Art of Fashion
The Loss of Fashion

Elsewhere, Karl Lagerfeld was busy revitalizing Chanel - where he was appointed in 1983 - and Christian Lacroix was showing flamboyant dresses inspired by his passion for opera, folklore and the history of costume. This was, after all, the time of the New Romantic. Giorgio Armani's unstructured but easily identifiable suits were worn as a badge of success. Born Ralph Lifshitz in 1939, America's most upwardly mobile designer was the son of Russian Jewish immigrants in the Bronx. Soon he began designing his personal ties, selecting the title 'Polo' for its aristocratic associations. The stylish neckwear proved a big hit at Bloomingdale's, and by 1970 Ralph had taken over a corner of the Manhattan department store with an entire range of upmarket apparel. According to Teri Agins, 'Lauren will go down in fashion historical past for introducing the idea of "lifestyle merchandising" in division stores. Lauren designed [his] outpost to feel like a gentlemen's club, with mahogany panelling and brass fixtures'. She goes on to say that Lauren's stores 'stirred all kinds of longings in people, the dream that the upwardly mobile shared for prestige, wealth and exotic adventure'. Lauren's shops had been movie sets, and his advertising and marketing campaigns - shot by Bruce Weber - ended up being stills from films that obtained by no means been designed. Levi's, Nike and Gap seemed a lot more connected to quotidian reality than some ethereal vision on a runway. Further, she observes that the utilitarian blandness of Nineties clothing made marketing more important than ever. Branding played a critical role 'in an era when just about every store in the mall [was] peddling the same styles of clothes'. Style has come out of the closet.

The Renewal of Fashion

The glamour factory had been plotting its resurgence all along, humming away in the background throughout the late 1990s, while industry observers fretted about the rising tide of 'smart casual'. The next wave of upmarket fashion brand names would appear from Milan and from Paris; plainly, experiences on the dying on the French capital received been significantly exaggerated. There is one name you can't escape when you attempt to write a history of fashion branding: Tom FRD. He was one of the first contemporary designers who really recognized the energy of promotion. The story of Gucci resembles an opera, replete with glamour, envy and murder. More on that later, but for now it's enough to say that Ford realized (like all the smartest designers, from Really worth to Lauren) that the important thing to some effective fashion label lay not merely from the clothes, but with the 'universe' surrounding them. According to Guillaume Erner, 'The Texan turned the style of the brand upside down: previously everything that bore the Gucci name had been brown, soft, and rounded. While outwardly deploring the pattern, the mainstream advertising experienced good enjoyable with fashion's filthy new picture. Even those who could only afford to buy their jeans from Gap found some extra cash for a Gucci belt. As Roitfeld observes, '[Ford] created clothes people wanted to wear, and then he explained to them that if they couldn't afford the dress, they could at least buy the sunglasses. Taking the opposite stance to Gucci's sex-drenched imagery, Miuccia positioned her brand as creative, sensitive and politically engaged. New York intellectuals and London businesswomen loved it. The Prada bag replaced the Filofax as the status symbol of choice, and the shoes and clothing quickly followed. And although the two men have radically different personalities, Arnault's tactics are not dissimilar to those of Tom Ford. 'Dior now has 310 boutiques around the world, so it can't be described as a luxury brand in the classic sense of the term, which implies exclusive. As far as Dior was concerned, Arnault's most inspired move was the appointment of a charismatic designer named John Galliano. Galliano didn't arrive at Dior directly: he was first appointed at Givenchy, following the reluctant retirement of the illustrious Hubert de Givenchy.
But it seemed as though he was being groomed for Dior all along; when the Italian designer Gianfranco Ferré left the fashion residence, Galliano was brought in to exchange him.
Rebellious Londoner Alexander McQueen then slid in to the hot seat at Givenchy, additional illustrating Arnault's penchant for shaking up the conservative world of French large fashion, and reaping lots of advertising exposure within the method.
Arnault would repeat the trick by bringing in hip Ny designer Marc Jacobs to revamp Louis Vuitton. Ford and Galliano were personally photogenic and exciting - as entertaining in their own way as rock stars.

Surviving the Death

In their latest incarnation as dream merchants, fashion makes appear curiously resilient. Meanwhile, the bitter dispute over who had the right to take control of Gucci was tied up in court in the Netherlands, where Gucci's shares were listed. In December 2003, market researcher Mintel pointed out that high-street fashion models H&M, Zara and Mango obtained all managed to double their product sales in between 1998 and also stop of 2002, despite slowing development. Such is the magnetism of fashion. And if they've been smart enough, our favourite brands are waiting for us.

More info can be found at:
Fashion
Fashion Trends
Fashion Designers
Fashion Design
Fashion Merchandising