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"It's the end of fashion as we know it" says Li Edelkoort

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  • AKA*NYC
    Senior Member
    • Nov 2007
    • 3007

    "It's the end of fashion as we know it" says Li Edelkoort

    Fashion is dead, trend forecaster Li Edelkoort has declared, describing the fashion industry as "a ridiculous and pathetic parody of what it has been".

    Lidewij Edelkoort, one of the world's most influential fashion forecasters, used her annual presentation at Design Indaba in Cape Town to fire a broadside at the industry. She told Dezeen: "This is the end of fashion as we know it."

    Edelkoort said her interest in fashion had now been replaced by an interest in clothes, since fashion has lost touch with what is going on in the world and what people want.

    "Fashion is insular and is placing itself outside society, which is a very dangerous step," she said in an interview with Dezeen after her presentation.

    Edelkoort listed a number of reasons for the crisis in fashion, starting with education, where young designers are taught to emulate the famous names. "We still educate our young people to become catwalk designers; unique individuals," she said, "whereas this society is now about exchange and the new economy and working together in teams and groups."

    Other issues affecting the industry include a loss of competence in textile design, the failure to address sweatshop conditions at clothing factories; and the cosy relationships between fashion houses and magazines and bloggers, which ties editorial coverage to advertising budgets.

    A new army of fashion bloggers who are dependent on inducements from the industry means that intelligent critique has been replaced by shallow coverage by what Edelkoort called "the 'like' generation".

    "The new brands will never get editorial in the magazines because they don't buy advertising," she said.

    "And then marketing of course killed the whole thing," she added. "It's governed by greed and not by vision. There's no innovation any more because of that."

    In Cape Town, Edelkoort replaced the second half of her usual two-part visual presentation with a reading of a lengthy essay entitled Anti_Fashion, listing and expanding on the reasons for fashion's demise. She began by saying: "For me this is not easy because I love fashion. The loss of fashion is painful and I am a bit nostalgic."

    Marcus Fairs: You're saying that fashion is dead. What do you mean?

    Li Edelkoort: It doesn't exist any more. This is the end of a system called fashion and we will have to invent new ideas. For now I think we are going to concentrate on clothes; celebrate clothes. As a result we will see couture coming back, [versus creation] and in fact it's a sort of relief because many people are thinking it.

    Marcus Fairs: It's the death of fashion as we know it?

    Li Edelkoort: Yes it is. This is the end of fashion as we know it. Fashion with a big F is no longer there. And maybe it's not a problem; maybe it's actually a good moment to rethink. Actually the comeback of couture, which I'm predicting, could bring us a host of new ideas of how to handle the idea of clothes.

    And maybe from these ashes another system will be born. And for now, when people see a nice table or a nice plate, they say, "Ah, how fashion!" So fashion has become a way to say "cool". And it's no longer addressing clothes.

    Marcus Fairs: What are the reasons for that?

    Li Edelkoort: It starts with education, where we still educate our young people to become catwalk designers; unique individuals, whereas this society is now about exchange and the new economy and working together in teams and groups, which happens in every other discipline, yet not in fashion.

    Fashion education should be, amongst other things, the industrial design of fashion; fashion as highly industrial design. It's meant to be serial, meant to be all the same; proud to be all the same. People like to be the same because you like to be part of a tribe and then your hair, your tattoo is going to say who you are and no longer your clothes.

    Fashion is insular and is placing itself outside society, which is a very dangerous step. So the education needs to be reviewed.

    Then there is a problem with textile; people don't know anything any more about textiles. Providing textiles becomes impossible. So we are speaking here of endangered species.

    Then there is the making of, which is done in countries where people are killed for making our garments.

    Then the designers themselves are all proclaiming that they are no longer doing fashion but are doing clothes, clothes, clothes. So everybody for several reasons is concentrating on clothes.

    And then marketing of course killed the whole thing. It's governed by greed and not by vision. There's no innovation any more because of that.

    Fashion shows are becoming ridiculous; 12 minutes long. 45 minutes driving, 25 minutes waiting. Nobody watches them any more. The editors are just on their phones; nobody gets carried away by it.

    Marcus Fairs: So is fashion dead or has it just become a ridiculous parody of itself?

    Li Edelkoort: It's a ridiculous and pathetic parody of what it has been. I know because I've seen fashion shows of Thierry Mugler which would have 65, 75 models for three quarters of an hour. We would be on our chairs, shouting with tears in our eyes and the whole place would go crazy. Check Thierry Mugler's old fashion shows online. You see the difference. It moved us. It's not like sort of fashion TV, back and forth.

    Marcus Fairs: You said in your talk that fashion used to predict the future but doesn't now. Has it lost touch with what's going on in society?

    Li Edelkoort: Completely. Whereas clothes are in touch. They know they need to be printed T-shirts; they know they need to be nice new shirts; they know that they want to be short; to be casual. So the garments no, but fashion doesn't seem to be in touch any more.

    Marcus Fairs: You talk about the return of couture. You mean expensive handmade clothes for the wealthy?

    Li Edelkoort: Yeah, but they will influence all other creations and we might see the comeback of the selling of patterns of material to retailers. So we would make authorised copies of couture. So you would make an authorised Dior copy in an African fabric.

    http://www.dezeen.com/2015/03/01/li-...n-indaba-2015/
    LOVE THE SHIRST... HOW much?
  • unwashed
    Senior Member
    • Dec 2008
    • 694

    #2
    funny, read this last week in a dutch 'news'-paper.
    She got some valid points though.
    Grailed link

    Comment

    • zamb
      Senior Member
      • Nov 2006
      • 5834

      #3
      Originally posted by unwashed View Post
      funny, read this last week in a dutch 'news'-paper.
      She got some valid points though.
      No she doesn't, what is happening is she has to talk because that's what she is paid to do

      Yes I agree that education is a (part of the) problem, but brands do not necessarily need advertizing in magazines to be relevant..

      Couture is dead and not coming back because the kind of skill sets that made couture possible simply do not exist in today's society. to find people with elite sewing skills is not easy.

      I will say more on this later..........
      Last edited by zamb; 03-11-2015, 09:01 AM.
      “You know,” he says, with a resilient smile, “it is a hard world for poets.”
      .................................................. .......................


      Zam Barrett Spring 2017 Now in stock

      Comment

      • unwashed
        Senior Member
        • Dec 2008
        • 694

        #4
        I'm not saying everything she says is valid. Some valid points are obvious, but aren't necessarily related to her so-called death of fashion. There will always be greed, sweatshops, incompetent journalism etc.. And fashion will, just like everything else, transition into a next phase. Change is good, change is progress. I guess she (being old) is just being nostalgic and whines more about how great the old days were. It's what old people do
        Grailed link

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        • Icarium
          Senior Member
          • Oct 2010
          • 380

          #5
          As a person who is more into clothes than fashion... I wouldn't mind if what she said turns out to be true.

          Comment

          • Pumpfish
            Senior Member
            • Sep 2010
            • 513

            #6
            How bout this:

            Maybe fashion as a collective experience is dead. By this I mean the spectacle of the fashion show which drives broad shifts in clothing styles.

            Perhaps the fragmentation in the digital age, of what were collective experiences, is happening too in fashion.
            spinning glue back into horses. . .

            Comment

            • AKA*NYC
              Senior Member
              • Nov 2007
              • 3007

              #7
              re: couture i think the requisite skill sets can resurface much as certain trades have made a comeback. i grew up in the era of supercuts and now there are traditional barber shops on every corner. kids learn quick these days and have plenty of time on their hands with the dearth of interesting jobs.

              the clothes vs. fashion dichotomy is very easy for many of us on sz to understand and relate to since most of us look past seasonal trends and evaluate garments (even from fashion houses) primarily in terms of concept and construction.

              most interesting to me is the licensing of patterns thing at the end which would suggest that clothing design could go the way of music, software, technology, etc. rick owens freeware anyone?

              i also found her categorization of fashion as industrial art compelling and wonder if a leaderless design collective may appear to change the fashion landscape with a muji-like industrial approach.
              Last edited by AKA*NYC; 03-10-2015, 11:32 PM.
              LOVE THE SHIRST... HOW much?

              Comment

              • justin_bridou
                Member
                • Feb 2015
                • 40

                #8
                Originally posted by AKA*NYC View Post
                kids learn quick these days and have plenty of time on their hands with the dearth of interesting jobs.
                I used to be a teacher, and I don't share this feeling. Today, kids are just able to read and write, their have a very limited capacity to focus, get tired very quickly, don't have any tenacity and their only concerns seems to be their 1000$ iphone... and it's hardly a caricature...

                Originally posted by AKA*NYC View Post
                most interesting to me is the licensing of patterns thing at the end which would suggest that clothing design could go the way of music, software, technology, etc. rick owens freeware anyone?
                from my experience now, patenting has a very negative effects. The price of licensing/patenting are so high that only big industries are often able to go ahead, while the "small" artisan/inventor can't and see his productions rerouted

                Comment

                • Faust
                  kitsch killer
                  • Sep 2006
                  • 37852

                  #9
                  Thanks for posting, A.

                  I read this when it just came out and was all over my FB wall. The elephant in the room is that if fashion is today than trend forecasters like her should be first in line for the firing squad. She has made a lot of money by being at the epicenter of fashion voodoo. Rumor has it that she's gunning for a dean post at Parsons, which could explain this article.
                  Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

                  StyleZeitgeist Magazine

                  Comment

                  • AKA*NYC
                    Senior Member
                    • Nov 2007
                    • 3007

                    #10
                    Originally posted by justin_bridou View Post
                    Today, kids are just able to read and write, their have a very limited capacity to focus, get tired very quickly, don't have any tenacity and their only concerns seems to be their 1000$ iphone... and it's hardly a caricature...
                    by kids i mean people in their 20s and 30s but your point about the iphone is a good one. in new york the average person's universe centers around food and apple products.
                    LOVE THE SHIRST... HOW much?

                    Comment

                    • Faust
                      kitsch killer
                      • Sep 2006
                      • 37852

                      #11
                      Originally posted by AKA*NYC View Post
                      in new york the average person's universe centers around food and apple products.
                      I am laughing on the outside but crying on the inside.
                      Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

                      StyleZeitgeist Magazine

                      Comment

                      • ahn
                        Senior Member
                        • Jul 2012
                        • 293

                        #12
                        Originally posted by Faust View Post
                        The elephant in the room is that if fashion is today than trend forecasters like her should be first in line for the firing squad. She has made a lot of money by being at the epicenter of fashion voodoo.
                        I've been thinking about this article a lot and this is such an important angle. How many of the people complaining about the state of the industry willfully helped it get this way?
                        some do it fast, some do it better in smaller amounts.

                        Comment

                        • AKA*NYC
                          Senior Member
                          • Nov 2007
                          • 3007

                          #13
                          Originally posted by ahn View Post
                          I've been thinking about this article a lot and this is such an important angle. How many of the people complaining about the state of the industry willfully helped it get this way?
                          if anything the "death of fashion" is a result of its democratization. i don't think anyone who is elegiac for the days of mugler is to blame.
                          LOVE THE SHIRST... HOW much?

                          Comment

                          • Fuuma
                            Senior Member
                            • Sep 2006
                            • 4050

                            #14
                            Originally posted by AKA*NYC View Post
                            by kids i mean people in their 20s and 30s but your point about the iphone is a good one. in new york the average person's universe centers around food and apple products.
                            NYC is Dubai II anyway, have a nice starbucks.
                            Selling CCP, Harnden, Raf, Rick etc.
                            http://www.stylezeitgeist.com/forums...me-other-stuff

                            Comment

                            • Fuuma
                              Senior Member
                              • Sep 2006
                              • 4050

                              #15
                              Originally posted by Faust View Post
                              Thanks for posting, A.

                              I read this when it just came out and was all over my FB wall. The elephant in the room is that if fashion is today than trend forecasters like her should be first in line for the firing squad. She has made a lot of money by being at the epicenter of fashion voodoo. Rumor has it that she's gunning for a dean post at Parsons, which could explain this article.
                              Exactly what I was thinking while I read this. I dunno what she's trying to say though, ultra-directional fashion has been out for a while, reflecting deeper changes in social stratification. We now have subcultural (i.e. tribal) status and currents in fashion too, has been going on for more than 10 yrs I'd say. I guess trend-forecasters have to forecast.
                              Selling CCP, Harnden, Raf, Rick etc.
                              http://www.stylezeitgeist.com/forums...me-other-stuff

                              Comment

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