The Loss of Fashion
When did fashion quit becoming fashionable? To paraphrase Hemingway, it happened slowly, and then very quickly. By now the most interesting thing on the catwalk was definitely in prêt-à-porter, with extraordinary creations from Jean-Paul Gaultier, Thierry Mugler and Kenzo. More costume than dress, they served as inspiration for the monochrome severity that characterized the tail end of the 1980s. 'Power dressing' became a buzz phrase. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, Ralph Lauren had been steadily building one of the ultimate fashion brands. His rag-trade-to-riches story has been told many times before, but it's worth briefly repeating here. 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. 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'. But Ralph Lauren is important for another reason. Almost subconsciously, Lauren realized that, in the USA, history was irrelevant. This was the land of Hollywood, of fantasy for sale. Lauren's shops ended up being film sets, and his promoting campaigns - shot by Bruce Weber - used to be stills from films that received by no means been designed. In many ways, Lauren was Jay Gatsby - the man who created himself. In addition, the Paris catwalks had lost their relevance in the face of MTV culture and streetwear. Even supermodels began to look less 'super'. Calvin Klein built a phenomenally successful brand around posters featuring Moss and other androgynous youths sporting baggy jeans and nothing else; it was the 'simple chic' ethic taken to the nth degree.
The Regrowth of Fashion
But he also redesigned every single aspect with the model, from print advertisements to merchants, guaranteeing that every little thing gelled to create an 'ideal' of what the Gucci name designed. 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 media obtained good enjoyable with fashion's filthy new picture. Sex, as everyone knows, always sells, and many consumers wanted in. The Prada bag replaced the Filofax as the status symbol of choice, and the shoes and clothing quickly followed. But what was happening in Paris? By the end of the 1990s the city was a shadow of its former self, its image as the world's fashion money eroded through the gradual decline of haute couture and the rapid ascent of Milan, not to point out the dominance of US pop culture and also the influence of American designers. Bernard Arnault was already on the rise in 1984, when he acquired Christian Dior. And although the two men have radically different personalities, Arnault's tactics are not dissimilar to those of Tom Ford. [Arnault's] stroke of genius was to bring marketing techniques to a world that had previously claimed to have no use for them. 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 home, Galliano was brought in to replace him.
Rebellious Londoner Alexander McQueen then slid in to the scorching seat at Givenchy, additional illustrating Arnault's penchant for shaking up the conservative entire world of French excessive fashion, and reaping a lot of marketing exposure from the procedure.
Arnault would repeat the trick by bringing in hip Ny designer Marc Jacobs to revamp Louis Vuitton. It was also completely at odds with the existing image of Dior. Gucci, Prada and Dior's formula of young, inventive clothes and affordable accessories, plus aggressive marketing, seemed to reanimate the public's inner fashion victim.
Surviving the Crash
He also acquired beauty and cosmetics company Sanofi, which owned Yves Saint Laurent. The flurry of acquisitions that followed on both sides looked like a duel between billionaires - Monopoly played for real. As LVMH continued its rapid expansion, the Gucci Group took possession of Boucheron, Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga, and signed partnership deals with Alexander McQueen (who left LVMH's Givenchy amid considerable tongue-wagging) and Stella McCartney. 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. We all know what happened the next day. The huge marquees that would be the setting for quite a few of this exhibits obtained been erected in Bryant Park, practically within just view from the Twin Towers. Fast-forward to 16 October 2003, and a headline in The Guardian: 'Fashion again in fashion as Gucci product sales surge'. And it's not just the luxury brands that have weathered the storm.
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