Is a part of fashion dying?

Every fashion related news article which I read now always has some form of complaint about the industry. Earlier this week president of the Chambre Syndicale ( the French fashion collective representing haute couture and ready-to-wear) Didier Grumbach was voicing his opinions about the way in which the timing of the catwalk shows promote copycats by high street retailers.

“It is collective suicide,” Grumbach told a gathering of foreign correspondents on Tuesday. “We are the only industry to send out global innovations on the Internet for free.”

Now this article is saying that in a bid to regain their customers, designers are making “real” clothes.

In the face of sliding sales and, in some cases, massive corporate debt, the big houses are eagerly – if not desperately – trying to coax women back into their expensive flagship boutiques. This is no time to take risks, the tried-and-tested is the safest bet.

First of all what were they making before if it wasn’t real and secondly what is going on? I thought fashion dictated, not that it was dictated to. Like many others out there, I have an interest in the celebrity, but I think it has gotten to the point where the celebrity is controlling alot more than we realise, especially fashion.

Because we are now trying to emulate celebrities, and they need to keep us interested, part of their job description has become to change their image on a constant basis. However whereas before when replicating celebrities clothing was quite impossible, it is and has become a way of life for some. Which means the introdution of new trends at a quicker pace, and of course because the non celebrity does not have the same kind of budget they will look to the high street stores and the market stalls for the copycats creating a market which only they can satisfy.

I think that perhaps we are moving too quickly and unlike the high street stores who have prepared themselves for the journey, the actual designers havent and are having a hard time catching up. Maybe Didier Grumbach is right in his complaints maybe a change is needed. The problem is the timing of the biannual catwalk shows is such a tradition that changing it will be felt.