Tag: fashion news

Categories
Fashion Feature

Fakefluencing is a Lifestyle

Fakes and Counterfeit goods.

As Generation Z gets squeezed, facing gaping economic inequality, the expense to show off becomes harder.  In 2024 trade down and keep posting model reigns.  If the bank account cannot afford the real thing, get the fake one.  The rise of the super counterfeit luxury goods means bling, bling without the high price tag.   Fakefluencers brag about purchasing fake luxury goods, glamour on a shoestring budget.  Even when they are showcasing their false items, perhaps even looking silly, fakefluencers have taken influencing to the next level, Fakefluencing.  These style setters are no longer waiting for brands to dm their Instagram accounts asking for a collaboration.  Why go to Saks Fifth Avenue?  Now, Fakefluencers buy the sort of real thing online or on the street corner. 

Influencers and Counterfeit

Excess, no questions asked is the philosophy. That interlocked Double C Chanel handbag under an arm was probably made who knows where, by who knows whom, under what type of conditions.

At least the world’s most expensive logos are being seen with people who count.  Next time looking over a lifestyle of the rich and famous social media post just remember “If it looks too good to be true, it is probably fake.”

Categories
Cinema entertainment entertainment news Fashion podcast

On John Galliano back to Dior

John Galliano

A snippet from the Before Tacky podcast with filmmaker Kevin Macdonald about fashion designer John Galliano. Rumours have hit the fashion gossip circuit the once former creative head of Dior is set for a return to the famed house. Click below to understand why we think this story feels a bit false.

Categories
Fashion Feature

All Display

Author Colin McDowell cynical take on the fashion world in his 1994 book The Designer Scam coined a phrase “Display Artists” for those who show up at events to parade around, get pictures eager being a part of the “best” crowd. Today they are called “Influencers”, people who influence others posting on social media. Others display their recent buys in shopping hauls. How can we not notice the neatly lined bags behind content creators on YouTube. These video Display Artists must show the world they can afford the big brands.

Categories
Fashion

More Zara Than Luxury

Dior Saddle

 Luxury industry has adopted the same appalling production model as their fast fashion counterparts. Today, Dior faces charges of exploitative production practices. As the lust for high end products grew the business model changed to satisfy consumer wants. Mass consumption means mass production.  Luxury went from exclusive to inclusive.  Many highly sort after brands morphed into glorified Zaras.

Big fashion companies are integrated entities with huge supply chains needing products to sell. Big profit margins at the expense of quality, the product will suffer from a bottom line decision.  As many shoppers are learning, perhaps the pricey handbag may not be worth the extravagantly inflated price tag. 

Almost on every corner in major cities there is a luxury brand.  In London, seven Louis Vuitton stores are north of the Thames. Buyers fooled themselves into believing they had entitled admittance to a club, when in reality they had been conned.   As the headlines from Italy continue to roll, shock is turning to outrage.   A 56 euros bag selling at 2800 euros rankles. On social media, opinions range from disappointment to disgust. One Korean YouTube Blogger reported local customers are going to the Dior Store asking for their money back or returning bags purchased in the past few weeks.

The Saddle Bag HMMM!

Dior Saddle Bag
Dior Saddle Bag

Does anyone remember when the French House was giving away thousands of Saddle Bags in 2018 to online celebs? As influencers peddled luxury wares, none asked serious obvious questions concerning production techniques or quality. Brand chasers just take the gift, no questions asked.  Watching video after video from “tastemakers” many have labeled accessories in their backgrounds while telling followers about being disillusioned with Dior.  Life is cruel. Stylists loved posting big label overpriced bags on Instagram feeds. Why do brands burn excess unsold stock? Missed clues. Maybe what they were making was not as valuable as we were led to believe.   As an editor I favoured small brands.  The teams have a family feel with real knowledge of their products and production process.

When searching for validation by buying an expensive handbag, let the buyer beware.

Categories
Fashion

How Much? The Dior Markup

Dior Bad

The expression “a sucker is born every minute” applies to luxury fashion these days.  Paris label Dior knows the world wants to belong to the bourgeois club.  Buying an expensive handbag is an arm reach into another social circle.  Emotions of supreme consumption in boutiques satisfies those temporary upward mobility urges was not lost by the fashion’s profit driven machine.

The world’s largest opulent entity, LVMH, learned how to make the desirable more accessible by making it more scarce while producing cheaper products.  A business model earning billions every year. 

When the Italian authorities announced the seizure of a factory producing Dior bag in sweat shop conditions.  Many laborers were illegal.  Beds were in the factory enabling 24-hour production.   According to reports the production site was sourced to produce handbags for the French brand.  Certainly, raised eyebrows hit the ceiling after the announcement of the cost of producing one handbag, 57 euros. The more surprising news is the end price for the aspirational buyer, 2750 euros.  That is a markup of nearly fifty times the production cost. In comparison, an Apple iPhone’s markup cost is double the manufactured price.

Admittedly, this author was not shocked by the news.  During Pitti Uomo, a tannery colleague with a factory located in the same area of LVMH’s facilities told me there were many questionable production techniques involved in the company’s workings. This is not the first time Louis Vuitton has been hit by authorities concerning production. In 2010 UK Advertising Standards Authority banned two misleading ads concerning handmade bags when in reality they were machine made.

At the time of writing the seized factory is under control of the prosecutors.

The next time gazing in front of a Dior window with frivolous desires, remember the quote: “People don’t want the truth because they don’t want the illusions destroyed.”

Categories
Fashion

On Change in Fashion

Change is inevitable, in the fashion business, change is often.  The news from New York took the industry by surprise.  Calvin Klein announced the appointment of Veronica Leoni as creative head, the female to lead he label.  The brand plans to return to the runway schedule.  Why this change of strategy?   Parent company owner PVH withdrew the fifty-six-year-old designer brand from the ready-to-wear runway shows, instead focusing on the label’s core sellers, underwear and jeans.

Little is known about Leoni other than the Italian designer worked for Celine and Jil Sander.  Calvin Klein was once the crown of the fashion world with is minimal sensuality built around youth.  Can Veronica Leoni bring the buzz back to an once New York Fashion Week marque? Curious choices are interesting. 

Veronica Leoni from Calvin Klein
Calvin Klein’s Veronica Leoni

The other news of the day report came from Paris.  The Grand Dame of fashion labels released a statement stating Virginie Viard would resign as head of the Paris based house. After five years at the position inherited from Karl Lagerfeld.  After 30 years with the brand Virginie’s stay comes to an end. What was the reason?  Chanel plays its hand close to its chest. There were no rumors of strife or lower sales.  The company recently paid big dividends to its owners. 

However, Viard has some big shoes to fill.  The larger-than-life Lagerfeld left his mark on the prestigious womenswear line. His magnificent shows, the sardonic wit filled pages of fashion reports.  While The headline adverse French born designer was competent the grandiose excitement seemed missing.  The airport runway sets or the multimillion-dollar celebrity commercials disappeared after 2019.  After all, Chanel is really about classy sensations.

It is only halfway through 2024.

Categories
Technology

Going Green Tech

Green Tech Berlin

Green Tech Berlin arrived with 200 exhibitors showcasing products and services. The two day fair is a place to learn about products and services tackling carbon zero and sustainability challenges with fresh ideals.

German automotive company presented a mini concept car made from recycled and 3-D printed materials.  The 240hp was made by twelve interns in the Neckarsulm factory over a six-month period.

Audi
Audi
Ou Yanshan
Gia Studios

Chinese designer Ou Yanshan had Balenciaga inspired piece made from recovered disposed materials.

The range of recycled sources and the way they are designed always excites me.  Vietnamese brand Gia Studios showed off white transparent jackets made from casaba melons. 

Sol Electric Bike or Noped
Lufthansa’s Green Fares Pledge
Susmata Trainers made from Recycled Tea

Germany’s Lufthansa Group is pivoting to becoming them most eco-friendly airline.  Europe’s largest airline concern has pledged to be carbon neutral by 2050 with modern fleet renewals, using Sustainable Aviation Fuel, Power-to-Liquid Fuels and Green Fares.

Green Tech is a travel fair held in Berlin, London, Los Angeles and Singapore.

Categories
Fashion Feature

What are the answers?

A few questions to ask. Today it is hard to answer because of media overload and desperate attention seeking.

What is ELEGANCE in 2024?

Why does modern style lack NUANCE?

Has glamour become a CIRCUS?

Is fashion inspiring or SILLY?

What’s the definition of Celebrity OVEREXPOSURE?

Categories
Book Review Fashion

Talley’s Chiffon Trenches

Andre Talley

I finally read Andre Leon Talley’s book The Chiffon Trenches, the fashion authority’s memoir published in 2020.  The Brown University graduate shows his gift of flowery as well melodramatic language describing his pioneering life in the fabulous  stratosphere.  However, therein lies the problem with the book.  The author weaving the tales got tangled in the plush silk web.  

From humbled beginnings in North Carolina to the corridors of fashion power at Vogue and Conde Nast, Talley’s journey was remarkable.  An assignment with editor matrix Diana Vreeland opened the doors of influence and access.

Stints at Interview, W Magazine and Ebony, Paris then New York placed the Washington D.C. born journalist in a spoke of the fashion universe.

Into the Bubble

The expression goes “The devil does not come dressed in a red cape and pointy horns.  He or she comes as everything you wished for.” It would be Anna Wintour who placed the journalist as close to the fashion’s center- hub as he would get.  The British born uber magazine head made Talley a true member of the style gentry class.  With a prestigious name plate, suddenly the first African American fashion Editor at Large not only had new friends, old enemies sought truces. 

Working at Conde Nast came across as a gilded bubble, flying here and there, front role seats, endless name dropping, believing the gold leaf fiction would prove the influential style consultant to the star’s eventual downfall.  Everyone has an expiration date. Mr. Talley’s beliefs in personal relationships in a transactional world came across as misguided, naïve, silly. Given his skill and knowledge, how did Andre fail to understand this?

The lack of introspection, suddenly chasing identity in a shallow way bothered me while reading his book. At the time of his writing, the world was gripped by BLM.  Perhaps this was chasing the headlines of the day.  I cannot remember Talley championing other African American Writers, designers, stylists until it was safe. Being friends with Naomi Campbell, Diana Ross and Michelle Obama was hardly risking taking.

His Job?

The confusing part of the book, what exactly did Talley do at Vogue? The details of having to pay for his driver when expenses were cut, laid bare, while the particulars of his job seemed vague, a column or a VIP styling every full moon. What were his real responsibilities?  After his unceremonious 2018 dismissal from the fashion Bible, the once well-heeled connected style purveyor got lost, forgotten, a relic who did not keep up with the times.  Seeing the frequently wearing caftain wearer on the 2020 Tamron Hall Show, I saw a man who came across as a child who lost his mother at the shopping mall.  The issues with Wintour still ran deep. 

Andre Leon Talley passed away in 2022 alone, struggling with legal and financial issues.  The 73-year-old left a bigger than life legacy that sadly faded at the end.

Categories
Fashion

Fashion’s TOPSY TURVY

As the fashion world moves along its topsy turvy twists and turns, the latest news makes a person’s head shake.

MET GALA

The MET Gala is coming up.  The New York City Soiree is the Red-Carpet event for the rich and famous.  Anne Wintour’s grand showcase is where fashion labels pay a celebrity to show up looking gorgeous.  The proceeds from this “charity” go to the Metropolitan Museum.  The irony, Vogue, along with parent company Conde Nast is planning to lay-off 100 workers. As the magazine struggles for footing, the fashion powerbrokers are having a ball while saying” No money to pay the workers”.   The term “Out of Touch” comes to mind. 

Conde Nast staff is taking this laying down.  The soon to be ex-employees are planning an action.  Workers are planning an action to circulate flyers near the venue with the slogan “Anna wears Prada/Workers get nada.”  NewsGuild of New York announced the intention is to bring attention to the ongoing negotiations.  While the Queen of Fashion is toasting many of her subject writers may need to open GoFundMe accounts to pay rent.

Reality

In the “Was it ever real” category, luxury online shopping has imploded. Until recently, once the darling of investors, the so called “savior the fashion world” is going out of style faster than bell bottoms.  E-commerce sites hit valuations of $25 billions and higher, those days are gone.  Matchesfashion went belly up with a heavy debt load owing 200 vendors, including luxe labels Victoria Beckham, Gucci, Max Mara and YSL.  Administrators are selling office furniture.  Customers will not get refunds or have orders finished.

Farfetch, the Paris base digital shopping giant has fallen on hard times as consumers cut back on high-end spending. 

While attending fashion events in January and February buyers from these platforms were going around trying to convince brands all was good, no need to worry.  Please keep doing business with us.  How did they do this with a straight face? 

It is only April.