Love enough to buy or Love enough to Like

There has been widespread commentary on the fact that designer branded goods aren’t what they used to be. Major designer brands these days seem to either be stealing ideas from each other, or are creating a simple viable product. Even runway shows are starting to become robotic and systematic. The public aren’t the only ones feeling this frustration in fact, the head designers of many of these brands have expressed their frustration of not being able to cultivate a collection that they truly envision. Now it is the stakeholders who direct the creative geniuses of these fashion houses.

As I am creating my designer brand I’m understanding the added pressure it takes to become a fashion house in this era. It’s not about how much you put your heart and soul into your work anymore, it is about the next viral trend. The Balenciaga scandal certainly exposed the fashion industry on many accounts, and especially this. Fashion has become an industry that feeds off of what society feels is cool, edgy, viral, trendy, etc. but also not just any society. It’s the society of people that the fashion industry has held on a pedestal for everyone to admire. But on this journey of creating, the next viral and trendy product designers have lost the vision of the brand and this is the frustration that the people are feeling.

But personally, I do feel for some of the brands in the industry. At the end of the day they are a business, and the business runs well on virality. Which not to mention is another problem to address. So the question I now have to answer when creating my first ever high fashion/luxury product is what is the middle ground between focusing on business versus feelings. 

Personally I'm still trying to understand the recipe for not losing yourself to the business while also keeping your vision for the brand in check. How can I ask brands and designers to be true to themselves when the true creative directors of fashion these days have become Benjamin Franklin and Andrew Jackson.

Perhaps it’s time to create a new wave of top designers that value authenticity and freedom of creativity. A new wave of top designers that aren’t gonna lose themselves in the next season trend because you know that’s gonna sell. Those are going to stick to their vision while also satisfying the customers and the people around them. That is the middle ground and that should be the norm for all businesses. 

It’s so much easier to write this than to actually act on it, because in the famous words of Madonna, we are all material girls in a material world.