I have been wanting to write a piece on this past trend of commercializing high design fashion with popular mass produced and processed food. This is a subject very close to me. I love food and fashion. I eat organic, I dislike processed food and everything that is industrialized. A paradox in many ways since fashion, big brands have industrialized the industry of fashion. So what can we get out of this new idea of integrating high fashion into vernacular environments?
Many designers 'reinvent' the same trends all over again. If you think about it everything has been invented already and we as artists redefine base don our experiences what had already been exposed in front of us. This is very true for fashion. Chanel killed the brand with their adaptation of Andy Warhol having models showing off trashy Chanel clothes in a fake supermarket, like women who can afford Chanel actually shop at Wal-Mart or Publix. Moschino has taken even a step further by bombarding us with ugly McDonalds' giant sweater and bags like we are supposed to believe that these people who wear Moschino eat fast food every day. The New York Times did a piece on Chanel, interviewing Mr. Lagerfeld who stated that these days supermarkets have become a common part of people who wear Chanel. You can read more about Chanel and supermarkets
here. I would like to know where Mr. Lagerfeld shops. Sure I own some designer pieces and I do go to Publix, but I ain't seen those clown looking Chanel clothes in any supermarkets near me. Real people do n't all live in Paris, Milan, or New York.
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| Chanel, by Karl Lagerfeld, autumn/winter 2014, in Paris. CreditGio Staiano/Nowfashion.com |
Some people believe this reinvention of fashion for the popular masses is genius, accrediting these designers to be superb and superior. Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion, but my personal perspective is that fashion is a money machine that needs to keep up with societal, political, and economic changes. McDonalds in the past years has seen a decline in sales (s
ee article here) and Chanel must have refocus their branding to a younger population given some of the latest trends totally in conflict with Coco Chanel and what the brand used to stand for - classic and elegant.
To me, it is obvious that these brands are desperate to 'be in the moment', to 'stay relevant and cool' in a society which is made up mostly by
millennials who are artists themselves and seek authenticity. And I say this coming from a brand marketing perspective. Now, I love fashion and I love marketing. I don't see anything wrong with planning around a product, but it needs to integrate and merge together in a way that appeals to me as a consumer first, an observant, a marketer, and an academic scholar.
Fashion is a form of comfortable art. For real women fashion needs to evoke confidence, comfort, fun, beauty, you name it....Real women do shop at grocery stores, run errands during the day, attend business meetings and then run to get the kids and take them to soccer practice. So the concept of fashion and commonality is not new.... but do we really look this foolish (as pictured by Chanel) when we are put in these common environments wearing a pink fur, a cropped top with holes, or/and a giant McDonald's red and yellow dress?
You can definitely wear designer clothes on the streets but don't lose your function in life, your identity, your common sense - The Independent wrote a piece on whether it possible to pull designer clothes off on the streets. See what you think -
here -
