Was 2015 the year fashion crashed?

[zamb]

Are you listening to ANYTHING that people who are actually working in the business, like Zamb as a designer and Faust as a journalist, are saying? Never mind that your line of argument is non-sensical at best.
And "the shit that people are buying all day" is most likely H&M or Zara and they seem to be doing very well. Considering your only point appears to be that you like Rick, you are taking up an awful lot of space with apparently zero knowledge about fashion. And thanks to the ignore list, you may well be talking to yourself very soon.

but here is the problem of his position

Maybe Rick would have never been a designer, if the opportunity didn't exist for him to become VERY successful in at least, (partially) the manner he is now

Lets say he didn't care to be successful on a large scale, and as such still made clothing but albeit on a smaller scale. Defender might nit have heard of him at all, in the same way he said he never heard of any of the designers like Adrover and Figus that Faust mentioned.

Suppose he did hear of him, as a smaller designer with the financial limitations that comes with only moderate success. His range of products would be much more narrow, and you would possibly appreciate him less because even though he has Ideas, he would lack the financial and distribution means to execute and make them available for you to appreciate his considerable gifts.

As i said before, sometimes i laugh when I see statements people make, because at times there is so much to consider in a given situation and usually those who have very much to say are doing so from the least bit of relevant information

[Defender]

Again, there IS a reason we've ALL heard of Rick, but not some other designers: excellence, genius, and business acumen.

Saying if but if maybe should've could've would've about Rick and defunct designers doesn't make sense because it comes down to the work.

Survival of the fittest is real, folks, and it applies to almost everything.

[julian_doe]

Again, there IS a reason we've ALL heard of Rick, but not some other designers: excellence, genius, and business acumen.

Saying if but if maybe should've could've would've about Rick and defunct designers doesn't make sense because it comes down to the work.

Survival of the fittest is real, folks, and it applies to almost everything.

You are so wise, and you have obviously explored the subject extensively beyond the one designer you can talk about. You should create your own blog, that way you don't have to "defend" your stubbornness against those annoying people that actually work in fashion and that have dedicated their passion and efforts to this artisanal craft.

[Ahimsa]

Again, there IS a reason we've ALL heard of Kanye, but not some other designers: excellence, genius, and business acumen.

Fixed.

[Defender]

That's a good example: from Wikipedia, "West is one of the best-selling artists of all time, having sold more than 21 million albums and 100 million digital downloads. He has won a total of 21 Grammy Awards, making him one of the most awarded artists of all time and the most Grammy-awarded artist of his age. Time named West one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2005 and 2015. He has also been included in a number of Forbes annual lists. Three of his albums rank on Rolling Stone's 2012 "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list; two of his albums feature at first and eighth, respectively, in Pitchfork Media's The 100 Best Albums of 2010–2014"

That's called building an audience of such rabid fans they'll buy anything he makes. He will never be out of business because if he can shit out sweatshirts and charge $1,000 and sell out in minutes, he'll be able to do that for any product. He's been building a fan base of millions of people worldwide for over twenty years. If he buries 100 designers who can't sell 1/1,000,000th of what he can sell, that's business. Hustle harder.

[Faust]

DON'T FEED THE TROLL

[scanner]

Aaah, thank you, sir!

It's a good and insightful article by Alex, as usual (he's one of like, two fashion critics worth reading today).

Faust, While I know you have championed Mr. Fury as one of, if not the only great fashion authors left, you've also been recently very critical - to the point of maybe accusing him of being a sell out - of his work. Perhaps it's time for the Fury's and Blanks' of the world step down and let a new breed of authors, such as yourself, lead the new fashion world.

I mean no disrespect, and it is obvious that your role in the fashion world is enormous, however, I am genuinely curious as to why you might see saw with your opinions and why not try to spearhead this industry with the sort of modern punk rebellion fashion is sorely in need of and you have always been leading.

There certainly are plenty of designers, Zam, etc., who are being outspoken of their feelings on the industry, while also retaining success in their field and also trying to make it healthy. Perhaps maybe there is a sort of union that can be formed (sort of like a German Purity Beer Law for fashion).

Apologies if any of this sounds insulting or even straying too far from topic, as I only read the first few comments, but I felt compelled enough to think that maybe - especially due to recent comments about the re-assembling of artisanal arts - we have some strong leadership here that is outspoken, rebellious, and ballsy enough to shake things up in the fashion world.

[Faust]

You speak of Alex as if he's Tim Blanks's age, but he's younger than me :-) I would never accuse him of selling out - quite the contrary. I only disagreed with him on Vetements (well, and that time he wrote about gayefication of the male look on the runway as the next thing in menswear - thanks, but no thanks). Usually, he's on point. So, no, not only he should not step down, but he should have Vanessa Freedman's job.

Thank you for the compliment, but I don't think my role in the fashion world is enormous. In order for me to have a bigger impact I need to work at a major publication. And no major publication seems to be interested in hiring me ;-) Hence, I continue to put most of my efforts into StyleZeitgeist, and hope ALL OF YOU read what I write in StyleZeitgeist and spread the word via your social media channels. It's the best way for me to make an impact and for StyleZeitgeist to grow. Frankly, the lack of response to my articles that I share on SZ is sometimes disheartening. Often I get more responses on FaceBook.

My articles for Business of Fashion have a lot of impact - especially my widely discussed first piece about H&M x Margiela collab, but even they no longer want to publish my opinion pieces. Still, I like doing reportage for them because they know my style and commission interesting topics.

[aussy]

I would blame SZ stage fright on the lack of reactions to your articles. Also, I'm sure you're FB friends with people who view fashion in similar ways, while SZ is partly where2kop lurkers / small questions thread posters. I read everything you post but never respond because rarely can I contribute some other point or question to the conversation. Trust in your Google analytics numbers and thread view count.

This thread/article only got the response that it did because of its relevance to our discussions in the reboot thread and because it was where he who shall not be named choose to set up his tent of worship.

[Faust]

Oh, I am all for good discussion, no matter which thread. Thank you.

[scanner]

I was going to say the same as Aussy. I love to read everything here and have every SZ Mag, but I feel I don't have much to contribute or respond to so I try to keep my distance, but know that you have more supporters and listeners / viewers than you might think. You would be surprised at the number of people that I run into that ask if I ever post on here as well :)

One of my resolutions for 2016 is to be more active on social media, so i'll look for you on Facebook and try to engage in there. Is it an SZ page or a personal page?

[Faust]

Thank you. It's both.

[nathaliew817]

I just realized that you wrote the piece against H&M collabs. I was surprised that there was one article which wasn't a complete promotional piece.

Nowadays there is 0,0000001% worth reading in fashion media. Every article is always gushing over how fabulous and amazing everything is.
A large magazine probably won't hire you because you'll say what you want. And true opinions are dangerous.

But anyway, I do enjoy your articles, the background pieces and the controversial opinions are my favorites.

[Law]

Nowadays there is 0,0000001% worth reading in fashion media. Every article is always gushing over how fabulous and amazing everything is.
A large magazine probably won't hire you because you'll say what you want. And true opinions are dangerous.

I recently went through countless designers seasonal collections on Style.com (now Vogue), as far back as they went. I read through all the brief show reviews and out of all of them, I think I came across maybe two reviews which resembled a disparaging negative review. Even when a collection was clearly mediocre, insipid, uninspired, derivative, or just downright plagiarized, the "writer" (or politician?) was obviously compelled to resort to puff piece/PR style writing, to "mask the shortcomings and deficiencies". Ironically as if they worked for or had a vested interest in the brand they're suppose to be writing a dispassionate objective review on. The review may as well have just been ghost written by the brands own in house PR. Makes you wonder whether they're petrified of challenging the status quo, losing all that valuable content/editorial pieces, or worse the advertising dollars.

This is something which has been prevalent for years.

[Faust]

Fear of losing advertisers has become pervasive in the industry.