Donna Karan on fashion and killing the industry
Daily News | Emily O'Brien | February 8, 2010
When Donna Karan went back to Parsons at the weekend, the school that put her in stead to become the legendary designer she is today, she had a few home truths about the fashion industry.
And it would seem she’s far from happy. In a surprisingly frank interview with Valerie Steele, director of Fashion Institute of Technology, Donna delved into the implications in today’s industry , starting with the shows.
“When I launched my company, the shows were in April and May, now they’re in February. So my question to this industry, and I say it to myself for my own company: ‘Why am I showing clothes in February?’ I don’t want the consumer to see next week what is going to be in stores in Fall, because it’s confusing, she says. “In the movie industry, the consumer doesn’t know about the movies until they’re ready to come out. Why do we give the consumer so much information about fashion six or seven months beforehand? It makes no sense to me.”
And neither, it would seem, does all this digital fashion. In fact, according to Fashionologie, it’s Karan’s killer.
“We need fashion shows, but that’s industry, it’s not for the general public, she continues. “All the communication has to stop. It doesn’t go out on the wire, it doesn’t go out on the Internet, it doesn’t get out for the manufacturers to copy the designs. I mean, we’re killing our own industry. There’s too much information going out there. We have to learn the word restriction.”
And there was us looking forward to spring.
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In some instances, I understand the worries of Donna Karen, especially when it comes to the Internet. Simply by googling “Spring 2010 Fashion Trends,” you receive 5,260,000 different links, most of which are less than credible, and by credible, I mean coming from a person who has studied trend forecasting or at least has paid their dues in the fashion industry.
It’s also a unique perspective that the access given to the general public to fashion shows via images on the internet is contributing to the replica-boom in fast-fashion. Yes, the seven month period between the Fall shows and the actual season does allow for quite a bit of time to replicate silhouettes, patterns, and aesthetics, etc. However, I don’t feel that decreasing the public’s access to fashion is the answer. I think the fashion industry would do better by trying to create a well-versed consumer and this is done by giving them more access.
Many times, people buy designer copies from fast-fashion stores unwittingly, and this is because they aren’t knowledgeable about various designer’s collections. Once the knowledge is in place, the fashion industry will have to trust in the consumer’s ethical perspective of purchasing a knock-offs. Though, yes, some people will still buy these copies because they are less expensive, it is important to provide consumers with all the information so they can make the decision for themselves.
In many aspects i agree that can be very confused, we are choosing what let’s use during the winter, by example, when it is hot still, but the information always is important.
Leila Silva
Ill never buy DKNY again..she needs to remmeber that the fashion industry exists becasue of the consumers..and she is preventing us from previewin the merchandise….who wears Donna Karen these days anyways..she’s not even original that she needs to worry about being copied for goodness sake