Label Under Construction (Luca Laurini)

[maldoror]

Re: Label Under Construction

"with great power comes great responsibility" . . . we are the harbingers of our own destruction / the WARST!

[Avantster]

Re: Label Under Construction



Great post Albert and malador.

As the price continues to rise, the customer demographic will inevitably change. The owners/designers will see this happening. That's when you'll see just how much integrity they have. If a designer is happy to attract fewer but wealthier customers irrespective of appreciation, so be it.

Vote with your wallet and things will work themselves out, in the end. I'm just as disappointed as y'all, but it's cause of that same reason that I look forward to things like Albert's clothing project.

[maldoror]

Re: Label Under Construction

[quote user="Avantster"]

but it's cause of that same reason that I look forward to things like Albert's clothing project.

[/quote]

+1![87]

[orphée]

Re: Label Under Construction

[quote user="Avantster"]

Great post Albert and malador.

As the price continues to rise, the customer demographic will inevitably change. The owners/designers will see this happening. That's when you'll see just how much integrity they have. If a designer is happy to attract fewer but wealthier customers irrespective of appreciation, so be it.

Vote with your wallet and things will work themselves out, in the end. I'm just as disappointed as y'all, but it's cause of that same reason that I look forward to things like Albert's clothing project.

[/quote]

You're right. An eye-opener is to divide an item's price by the number of times it is worn, or expected to be worn. The outcome can be quite sobering.

[philip nod]

Re: Label Under Construction



all these high prices mean a new generation of younger designers will come up. maybe its not so bad after all.

and since i'm here, why, exactly is the western markup on julius and viridi anne (in almost every store) on average 50% more than japanese retail.

[philip nod]

Re: Label Under Construction

[quote user="Faust"][quote user="maldoror"]I understand what Merz is saying here and I'd imagine that everyone else here does too. however, there's a difference between a retailer hiking up the cost of goods (which is always what I assumed was going on with the 1 yen --> 2 dollar thing) and the designer himself squeezing every last cent out of his fan base.

really though, my personal issue has to do as much with dissollusionment as anything else. while I expect this sort of thing from gucci, prada, LV and the other heidi fleiss monogram peddlers of high fashion, for whom illogically high pricing is a foundational tenet of the branding (and a large part of the brand's appeal through the misnomeric concept of "exclusivity"), I expect something more from the particula sort of brand-glue which bind SZ together.

of course CCP and, specifically, LUC (to keep this topic on-topic) are expensive, and always have been. and of course, no matter how much we want to justify the cost with appeal to innovation, special treatments and techniques, luxury materials, etc. the high prices will still, ultimately, be just that. however, there's a difference between running a successful business/making a profit, and milking your customers for all they're worth. charging almost twice as much one season later for the same product crosses that line. as things continue to escalate, people are being priced out. the customer demographic itself is changing along with the price.

as much as I hate to admit it, the dissilusionment here has to do with image as much as anything else. I've always seen the owner/designers of these labels as something more than business men, not artists per se, but surely artisans. to my mind, they are more in line with the hermetic indigo dying expert operating out of the shadowed corner of some dusty alleyway than domenico del sole furiously humping a stack of dollar bills in a private jet while tom ford rubs one out on the sidelines. I am starting to realize now that this is not only idealistic, but naive. Amadei was raising a red flag which I wanted to regard as an exception, but that's becoming harder to do.

there is a certain inauthenticity which has always been at the core of these products. the whole idea of paying extra for distressed leather, wrinkled fabrics, madly chasing the flickering image of the billion dollar bum. however, there was always the quality and the artistry to at least partially back it up, and, as expensive as things were, they were always save up-able, capable of being prioritized into attainability. if things continue the way they are going this will no longer be the case.

surely I'm being overly dramatic here, but it's sad to think that soon enough you won't be able to spell LUC without MBA NBA.

[/quote]

AMEN. Couldn't have said it better myself. [Y]

[/quote]

fixed your typo, baller.

[Chinorlz]

Re: Label Under Construction

[quote user="maldoror"][quote user="Avantster"]

but it's cause of that same reason that I look forward to things like Albert's clothing project.

[/quote]

+1![87]

[/quote]

aahahaha

I've finished the shirts (except one...), now moving onto the pants and then I'll unveil! Please just give me a couple more months :)

[Faust]

Re: Label Under Construction

[quote user="philip nod"]

all these high prices mean a new generation of younger designers will come up. maybe its not so bad after all.

and since i'm here, why, exactly is the western markup on julius and viridi anne (in almost every store) on average 50% more than japanese retail.

[/quote]

Not if they are like Damir Doma [83]. Western markup is probably for the same reason European designers cost 50% more in Japan. Freight + customs = asspensive.

[AKA*NYC]

Re: Label Under Construction

[quote user="philip nod"][quote user="Faust"][quote user="maldoror"]

surely I'm being overly dramatic here, but it's sad to think that soon enough you won't be able to spell LUC without MBA NBA.

[/quote]

AMEN. Couldn't have said it better myself. [Y]

[/quote]

fixed your typo, baller.

[/quote]

The ultimate doomsday scenario. Yo dawg gimme two of them reverse cashmere joints in size XXXL.

[Faust]

Re: Label Under Construction

[quote user="AKA*NYC"][quote user="philip nod"][quote user="Faust"][quote user="maldoror"]

surely I'm being overly dramatic here, but it's sad to think that soon enough you won't be able to spell LUC without MBA NBA.

[/quote]

AMEN. Couldn't have said it better myself. [Y]

[/quote]

fixed your typo, baller.

[/quote]

The ultimate doomsday scenario. Yo dawg gimme two of them reverse cashmere joints in size XXXL.

[/quote]

[ddohnggo]

Re: Label Under Construction



goth ninja taken very literally

[ddohnggo]

Re: Label Under Construction

[xadam]

Re: Label Under Construction

ninja moves aside, i found the new pieces to be strikingly rad. they've perfected the subtle distressing, and the reversability has gone from a sales pitch to a legit two-faced piece. the 900$ square-hem'd raw edge'd shirts, well, thanks anyway.

[maldoror]

Re: Label Under Construction

agreed. I was just scoping these at A and think the new collection looks fucking great, prices be damned. This is not to say that I'll be buying any of it, because I probably won't, but if I wanted to drop a g on a sweater you can be damn sure this is how I'd do it. The main problem with the universal price hikes is that, whereas a couple of seasons ago it would be no problem to justify copping a variety of pieces, I now have to really weigh my decisions for the select few. At the moment, that means focusing on footwear at the expense of LUC . . . with the possible exception of one of those insane black-matter ninja ponchos.

[Faust]

Re: Label Under Construction



[quote user="maldoror"]agreed. I was just scoping these at A and think the new collection looks fucking great, prices be damned. This is not to say that I'll be buying any of it, because I probably won't, but if I wanted to drop a g on a sweater you can be damn sure this is how I'd do it. The main problem with the universal price hikes is that, whereas a couple of seasons ago it would be no problem to justify copping a variety of pieces, I now have to really weigh my decisions for the select few. At the moment, that means focusing on footwear at the expense of LUC . . . with the possible exception of one of those insane black-matter ninja ponchos.
[/quote]

3rd. well, i am glad you are still able to weight your choices - i just chuckle and shrug.