Do we need high fashion?

Wee need clothes to cover our body and face the weather but do we need clothes that have a price tag of hundreds or thousands of dollars? Maybe we don´t, but for some people like myself, High Fashion is a way of living a dream by being part of the universe that our favorite labels embody: the people, places, events and fantasy tales related to them; reading about them, looking at their ad campaigns, visiting their corners or flagship stores and, with the act of buying, we become a part of the tangible expression of ideals we identify with, an identity we want to relate to.

We are part of a lifestyle we live, feel, or want.

So, maybe we don´t need High Fashion, but many of us need to dream, and High Fashion is a way of living some of our dreams.

Tradition

The word can take us to places like family dinners, parades or comic book conventions, but for luxury brands like Hermès or Louis Vuitton, it´s the place they were born in, the materials and techniques they use; values, a way of life, their identity.

They are part of historic moments, places and people. They are not only brands but also legends and fairy tales that translate into highly desirable products.

But it is important to note the fact that these fashion houses understand that tradition also means reinventing the legend, keeping the quality of the materials and the techniques, but also being open to reinterpret their aesthetic symbols, as well as creating some new ones along the way.

Simulacrum

"The simulacrum is never what hides the truth - it is truth that hides the fact that there is none. The simulacrum is true". 

-Ecclesiastes 

From the book "Simulacra and Simulation" by Jean Baudrillard.

Basic Values

Why should high Fashion be revered?

Many of us talk about the grand shows, stores, designers, models, campaigns, celebrities and of course, the prices that come with High Fashion labels but, recent events like Tom Ford´s intimate show and the artisanal tours made by the likes of Chanel and Tod´s are bringing to our attention the basic values that have become secondary due to the hurry for novelty from the market and fast fashion brands and, What values are these?

As I humbly see it, they are:

Materials because High Fashion houses should use only the finest in elaborating their products, from the yarn for the stitches to the hardware on a bag.

Craftmanship the techniques are essential, the way every garment and accesory is constructed should reflect the particular know how of the house, turning each piece into a prowess of architecture and engineering.

Exclusivity this comes from the aforementioned factors, as well as design, all houses have a distinctive aesthetic that sets them apart, and this should preavil in each collection.

All of this and more values are important but I think it should be noted that, at the end of the day, the way the market moves and the influence of so many things like the mood of the people or the latest song or movie can overshadow anything.

Quality and Timelessness

These are the new values that occupy the mind of consumers.

A sentiment triggered by the current economic downturn and manifested in different ways. Consumers now look for clothes and accessories that are capable of transcending the logic of disposability that come with the change of seasons in fashion. Or, like in the case of emergent economies like China, where their up and coming upper middle class is looking for articles from the likes of Gucci and Hermès as a way of letting everyone know they like the best and have the money to pay for it.

Whatever the reason, there´s always someone willing to support the industry, even in this hard and uncertain weather.

Knowledge Value

Concepts vary depending on the context, and because this is a space about fashion theory, or at least what I consider this to be, I´m going to adapt each concept to the theme, trying not to leave out of the equation the many ramifications that cut across the theme.

So for starters, I´m going to try and define what I consider a very important characteristic of the fashion industry and it´s products: Knowledge Value.

So, from some personal observations and the help of Taichi Sakaiya here it goes:

As the term indicates, Knowledge Value is the amount of knowledge involved in the creation of a product, beginning with the design and aesthetic, passing on to the selection of materials and the manufacturing techniques used to give it life.

Knowledge Value can be tangible or not, it can be measured or not, it can come from the tradition of a particular know how or from innovation, it can be the combination of these and many other factors.

Ultimately it is a testimony that each product presented to us, be it a shirt, a bag or a pair of shoes, are not only mere objects but the result of thought and passion being put to practice.

A Matter of Tag

Maybe at some point we have wondered how come a pair of Levis' are $ 70 while a pair of jeans from Seven or Dior sport a tag from $ 200 to $ 400+, well, pretty simple, it's all about what they stand for. The all american hard working on the mines origin versus the "haute denim". Now don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of both and consider them as valid as anything, besides, it all comes down to style, and that you cannot put a price tag on.

Fashion, Style, Trend

We often confuse these words and merge them like they´re the same, maybe they are at times but, more often than not, they are light years apart.

Fashion is ephemeral and is created to have a life span depending on the market and whatever whims we have as consumers. Some may prevail and some may just live to become a memory of something that once excited and defined us in some way.

A trend is something of the moment, a song, a person, a song, a movie, a movement or color that comes to play a part in Fashion but that inevitably will fade.

Style, now that is something that many claim to have but only some can really carry on, it´s what reflects what we´re made of, what we are, want to be and want to show the world in order  to define ourselves like part of something without loosing our individuality, it´s our identity and it shifts from time to time depending on so many things.... what we see, what we listen to, what we experience, what life throws at us, but always coming back to the root of it all, our nature.

We can always combine these terms, define them what suits us best, rely on them to make decisions, but lets never loose sight of them as elements that are, as us, individuals that collide when it feels right.

Crisis on Multiple Seasons

There´s resort, cruise, spring - summer, pre - fall, fall - winter and an awful lot more seasons in between nowadays that one just can´t keep up with the mood of fashion, no that it has much left since the increasing number of collections expected from designers today is just killing their creativity and hability to come up with those incredible backgrounds that made fashion fun, interesting to follow, and a reason to spend good money.

Sure we have Karl Lagerfeld and Miuccia Prada to create something that turns heads but still; every day I read more articles about how fashion is at a creative crisis, that much of the shows are flat and the collections unflavoured, that there´s no discourse in the fashion world today, no meaning whatsoever.

I agree, there is no meaning, and there cannot be any until the product becomes scarce and the mind behind has the time to prepare a line with a life, an origin and a story, present and future; not just loads of shirts and jackets tweaked enough to fill shelves and look remotely novel every month.

Everything we hold dear has a meaning, be this a place or the clothes we put on, and they mean to us because we think them rare, they make us feel unique, they help us get by.

High Fashion used to do that: two collections a year, limited pieces in a collection, limited production and limited spaces to buy this miraculously looking, marvelously made, and un realistically presented products.

But the times change; now there are millions of people with a lot of cash and no sensibility for all the work behind a fashion collection, and they want new things to buy every month so they don´t get bored.

Fashion, like anything else is a businness, no argument there, and today it has to come up with more products to sell at a faster pace; so be it, one has to adapt to survive.

But we can´t expect the marvels fashion can deliver, not without its most fantastic and now forgotten characteristics: freedom and time, to live, dream and mature into the things we don´t know we can´t live without until the change of seasons (two seasons that is).