Paris Fashion Week Couture continues.
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Couture Week Looks 2
Tag: luxury fashion
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Brett Johnson’s New Look
From Milan Fashion Week Men, luxury fashion brand Brett Johnson showed off a new collection with a new slant on details using lavish materials.
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A Sneak Peak Look
As we prepare for Mens Fashion Week Month have, here is a look from luxury brand Brett Johnson’s FF24 collection. We will get the lowdown on what Mr. Johnson has in mind for SS 25 at Milan Fashion Week.
How did luxury lose its luster? There are many answers to this question. As the industry reels from lower profits while consumers cut back on aspirational purchases. Some answers require a somewhat deeper analysis.
As masstige became a business model for exclusive brands, they began to lose their allure. Overproducing so called “desired pieces” accomplished the opposite effect, a splash of everyday common tattiness. When once there was admiration mingled with a touch of covetousness for a displayed logo or design, today, this comes across as vacuous consumption for the sake of showing off.
As management drivers took control of the luxury industry, maximising the bottom line became paramount. Corporate control is not about creation, but rather big profits. A fast way to make money is to increase prices for high demand goods. These price hikes did not go unnoticed by pinched shoppers who simply prioritized basics over splendours.
A cautionary tale is taking place. Trying to be everything to everyone can mean nothing to all. As luxury fashion continued casting a wide net, discerning buyers went in the opposite direction. A corporate boss does not desire what a workers have. Teen buyers are shaped by peers, not their parents. Generation Z has become mass labels wary. Young buyers look less willing to chase brands, looking for different, more individualistic clothing.
The most important asset for any brand is reputation. An ongoing sweatshop scandal has at least in the short term made many buyers question the real value of these labels. Factories employing illegal workers in poor conditions while producing high quality expensive goods rattled consumer trust.
The luxury sector is entering a period of uncertainty. With retail in a tailspin, once rock solid markets in Asia in a slowdown, global conflicts, changes at the creative head levels, the Fall 2024 Fashion Week conversations will be more interesting than the runway collections.
The Dior Fantasy is of a handbag made with passion in a stylish factory.
The reality is very different. Dior’s handbags are made mass produced under sweatshop conditions.
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More Zara Than Luxury
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!
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.
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How Much? The Dior Markup
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.”
Spanish fashion designer Juana Martin themes for this year Paris Fashion Week Couture collection blended the age old conflict of Divinity and Sins. Fruits and fish motifs mixed with lace and gauze for the twenty four looks on the June runway show.
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A Before Tacky Brief
Fashion designer Brett Johnson talks about creativity in this Before Tacky Brief.
Check out the entire podcast here:
Black and Paper participated in the London editorial fashion production with designer Alan Scott featuring his eponymous label featured in “Cutting Edge” issue of High Volt Magazine. Actress, model Eugenia Kuzmina and photographer filmmaker Darren Vukasinovic captured the atmosphere of the dockside in the capital city.
