Margiela x H&M ???

[Faust]

/\ Bingo. Part of the essay I am writing on the whole thing.

[Faust]

My op-ed piece for the Business of Fashion

[Nomad_]

read the article, great insight

im gonna check the riduculous lineup anyway on opening night in toronto

[Rosenrot]

EXTRA EXTRA! H&M hijacked Slovenian photographer's work for the MMM campaign.

http://www.blog.rompom.com/?p=66

[mrbeuys]

Beyond shameless...
Even the retouching is shoddy... I don't understand why they didn't at least print that stuff out and lean it against their own wall. Someone's getting fired.

[TheThief]

Beyond shameless...
Even the retouching is shoddy... I don't understand why they didn't at least print that stuff out and lean it against their own wall. Someone's getting fired.

That would have required too much thought and effort.


A really great piece E. Seems to have kicked off some debate in the comments as well. I get the feeling that parts of the article were misunderstood by some of the readers, that or they are vociferously defending their decisions to buy into the collabo.

[syed]

Are you crazy, man? Are we seriously against capitalism, competition and good marketing now because some fash(ion)ist moron doesn’t like the fact that not everyone is wearing couture? As Coco Chanel said, “fashion is made to become unfashionable.” Nothing is more “of the moment” and fleeting than a designer/mass retailer collaboration. If everyone thought like this design/fashion supremacist, poor and middle class people would all wear the same cheap uniform and rich people would look like Lady Gaga, dressed in one-of-a kind-couture, because only they could afford it.

This...just Apparently without designer collabs, you'll get Lady Gaga and everyone else in a uniform of sweats from Primark/Walmart/etc.

[Patroklus]

the lower and middle classes would be better able to afford fashion under a capitalist (or socialist) system than the system that actually operates the world economy today.

[xeraphim]

My op-ed piece for the Business of Fashion

great piece, Faust.

looking forward to see how much of your article will get referenced later tonight:

[fncyths]

"Real style is a matter of taste. And taste is a matter of experience. Just like one’s tastes in music, art or books, taste in clothes forms over time. It takes effort and knowledge. Buying into a style, quickly and cheaply, inevitably leads to the disposability of style. It’s like reading the Cliff’s Notes instead of the book."

Great article!

[Faust]

Thanks, gents. Cool, xeraphim - will you be attending?

[xeraphim]

Yeah, just got back actually.

Somewhat underwhelmed, considering the amount of potential content for discussion on the topic - Imran spent so much time going through the history (and future) of BoF that he never actually got to his slides on collaborations/transparency...

Bruno made his case on transparency in the industry using Honest by's business model - perfectly good example, albeit slightly coming off as self-promotion... All good, until someone in the audience decided to bring up H&M x Margiela.

To quote the man directly (to the best of my memory), "I am all for the democratising of fashion. I believe Margiela would have supported the collaboration... making fashion and/or his work accessible to people."



Had some time to talk to him over a drink afterwards where he did clarify his comment on "democratising fashion" (mostly on clothes vs fashion), but the bit on Margiela still leaves me baffled.

[Faust]

Would be fun to find out what Margiela thinks, wouldn't it. I know someone who can ask him, but it'd never get on record.

In B of F's defense, Imran doesn't have to share my position, the opinion is mine and I think it's courageous of them to publish it. We must remember that it's an op-ed piece.

Well, the piece has gone fairly viral with 1.2k facebook likes and Yahoo! Finance, New York magazine, and Harper's Bazaar linking to it (hoping that the NYT picks it up as well). I hope it sparks an interesting discussion. It's a discussion worth having.

[525252]

just don’t think that you are buying ‘fashion’ or a part of Margiela’s legacy

but H&MxMMM is the ultimate manifestation of his legacy!
The blank label was still a label, the four stitches were the branding, the circled number was the logo. It was fashion from its conception and this is only the natural conclusion.
You can make the case for intelligent conceptual design and deconstruction as much as you like, argue against unintelligent superficial design, but all the capitalist machine cares about is novelty. So now that you've conveniently pointed out how unfashionable unintelligent superficial design is, and unwittingly suggested its replacement: intelligent conceptual design now the hottest coolest thing ever!

note how H&MxMMM didn't actually produce anything new, because the idea of conceptual design is novelty enough. Maybe the next widespread novelty will be about something not mass produced..

I'm sure this is a sign of impending change (meaning significant reformation of infrastructure in garment production) because the natural development from H&MxMMM signifies nothing but the limits of mass production. And change has already begun, its just a long and gradual process before any of it is apparent.

Honestly, I think Martin Margiela would be at a point where he can just laugh at it now

[christianef]

I get the feeling that parts of the article were misunderstood by some of the readers, that or they are vociferously defending their decisions to buy into the collabo.

some actually make valid points. im all for elitism but i find the article reads a little too much into things - obviously these collabs are mostly for donkeys who want to wait in line all day to buy into a delusional glorified version of regular h&m. no one gives a shit about the legacy. its mmm most people here dont even give a shit about him, realistically. so what. families of tourists wait in line all day to look at the catacombs or eat at a shitty restaurant mentioned in a flyer they probably do not put a lot of thought into it either. margeila makes lots of quirky stuff that works in a gimmicky sense so its a smart collab because its easy to package. mmm and h&m are fundamentally diametrically opposed but as someone mentioned kids have to start somewhere. so maybe its better mmm than versace. and after enough experience their tastes may finally develop enough to match their rick socks with their rick shoes and rick shorts or buy a PH cap woohoo.