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Fashion  /  Fashion Review
Our Favorite Shows From Autumn/Winter 2017
March 10, 2017
charles i. letbetter - A/W 17 Favorites

There are a few that will always stand out

charles i. letbetter - A/W 17 Favorites

[dropcap]I spent most of Wednesday sleeping. Thursday was a surprise doctor appointment (not as bad as it sounds). Maybe it’s because I’m older, or perhaps because we put a lot more effort into our reviews this season, but by the time we reached the end of this autumn/winter fashion season I was ready for Kat to take me out back and just shoot me. These things take an inordinate amount of energy from me and more than once I’ve wondered if it is worth the effort. Of course, the answer is ultimately yes, they are worth all the effort, all the time, and all the loss of sleep. [/dropcap]

Now is the time for everyone to start with their “Best of … ” lists. I’ve already seen a couple and,  while I agreed on most points, felt they missed some collections that were either very fun or very important. The list we want to present today isn’t really a “Best” list. Best is an arbitrary definition and seems a bit bullying toward those who might not agree. Instead, ours is a list of favorites, the shows that made it worth the ungodly hours, the sore muscles, the aching back, the endless eye strain, and the gallons of coffee. When all the other shows blur together, these are the ones that stand out in my memory.

Please note that there is no uniform set of requirements for making this list. Some are more because of the designer’s attitude than the clothes. Others had fantastic casting. Still others had just one piece that really caught my eye. Of course, all of our reviews are ready for you to read on Pattern. If you’re interested in the full review, we’ll include a link to each one below. What we want to acknowledge here are those that made us smile, made us feel good about our use of time, and excuse making everyone else alter their schedules so we could catch the next show.

These are the autumn/winter shows that are worth watching again, in no particular order.

Prabal Gurung

There are a couple of shows from this season where I really have no choice but to show video rather than still pictures. I love still photography and much of the time find that it presents the stronger message. Not in this case, though.

Gurung had already achieved a place on this list by casting “plus size” models Marquita Pring and Candice Huffine in his show. We didn’t see nearly enough of that this season and Gurung’s was probably the most notable show in which they appeared.

He also won the award for the most sheer we saw in a New York show this season. I’m guessing he didn’t want anyone to get too hot under those fantastic coats of his. We’re talking really sheer.

What cemented this show’s place in our hearts, though, was the finale walk. These are usually rather boring, actually. In fact, it’s not unusual for me to get up and grab another cup of coffee if I think it’s going to be long and drawn out. Prabal kept me in my seat, though, as the lights went down, the familiar introduction to John Lennon’s Imagine began playing, and models walked out in t-shirt with feminist messages of empowerment. I’ve never heard a fashion crowd go so completely quiet in all my life. The effect was amazing.

You can read our full review on Pattern, then watch the video here:

https://youtu.be/GV6G9LQxw9o?t=6m52s

Calvin Klein

This could be one of those collections that go down in history: Raf Simons’ first show for Calvin Klein. There was a lot of speculation beforehand as to whether or not the designer best known for his time at Christian Dior. Could he produce something that Americans would notice and want to wear?

While the jury may still be out on whether Americans actually want to wear this new version of Calvin Klein, it definitely got attention when he sent down some “sweaters” with sheer bodies. It was an interesting look, to be sure:

Granted, Calvin Klein is known for being a very sexy line of clothing, especially when it comes to their men’s underwear ads. But is the US ready for this? Actually, what this look does is allow one to make a sweater with any t-shirt. The sheer bodice let’s the shirt’s message shine through while keeping one’s arms warm and toasty. At least, we think that’s the direction Raf was going. It will be interesting to see if anyone actually tries wearing the sweater as it appeared on the runway.

We suggest reading the full review over on Pattern for more details. There are several interesting pieces in this collection, but this one, available for men as well, could make this fall’s college football games a lot more interesting.

Marc Jacobs

You won’t find any pictures from inside the Armory where Marc Jacob’s fashion show was held. In a season where spectacle often exceeded the value of the clothes show, Marc seemed to give the entire industry a giant middle finger by going with an anti-spectacle. No set. No photographers pit. Just one long aisle down the center of the floor with folding chairs on either side. No music. No distractions. Just the sound of models’ heels clicking on the hardwood floor. Stripped back and as bare bones as possible.

Only when models stepped outside the Armory were there cameras and music. Lots of cameras and lots of music. Models came out and sat in front of large speakers playing Issac Hayes’ cover of Walk on By while everyone snapped pictures of them, and the models snapped pictures of everyone else. It made for a most interesting end to NYFW. Our full review is here.

Burberry

A lot of people don’t understand this Burberry collection. No matter how much explanation Christopher Bailey has given, I’ve been amazed by the number of people who just don’t get it. The challenge seems to be that the collection is based on the work of a specific sculpture artist, Henry Moore. Even with Moore’s work on display right there in front of them as the models walked, not everyone seemed terribly thrilled with the collection and more than a few have wondered aloud whether Bailey’s days are numbered.

No, Christopher Bailey isnt’ going anywhere, and this collection is better than the credit it’s been given. There is some critical work going on here and while it’s not necessarily down the normal trench-coat-laden path it is still a strong collection with a number of worthwhile pieces. Among them, Bailey’s new take on that famous trench. What really blew my mind, though, were the amazing oversized capes that he put on models for the end of the show. While these pieces are not part of the collection that will hit stores, they definitely made the collection stand out and demonstrate how incredibly creative Bailey is. There’s a lot more to say, and you can find it all on Pattern. And for the record, I like the new trench, too.

Antonio Marras

This show kind of takes the cake for coolness this season. Not only was the runway diverse in terms of age, gender, and size, it was 100% entertainment without using outlandish set design as a spectacle. Instead, Marras employed a German-based theater method known as Tanztheater. As a result, there were ongoing skits between couples and silent monologs from individual models that were constantly taking place as the incredibly colorful line of clothes made their way around the catwalk. It was fun and entertaining without taking away from the clothes.

Then, came the finale, which involved a choreographed march of sorts. Humorous, to be sure. But oh, they weren’t done! Marras comes out to take his bow and the entire Tanztheater cast chases him crazily around the runway. I put the link to the show in our review, but I’m including it again here because it’s just that much fun to watch! Absolutely nothing like it all season!

Missoni

Politics was on the mind of a lot of people this season and with good reason. As trade policies with the US could become less friendly to imports, many labels are looking for ways to express their dissent. Many designers kept their protest subtle so that it wouldn’t cause too much of a stir. Not Angela Missoni. She caused a stir and stirred hard.

First, there were pink knit “pussy” hats on all the guests’ seats. Then, at the end of a fairly typical Missoni show, came these three looks:

Now, in case you don’t catch all the symbolism, let me help you out a bit. The pink triangle is for AIDS awareness. The Venus symbol is for feminism. And the two hearts over the breasts are to protest the social media censorship of women’s nipples. That’s a LOT to put into one fashion show.

Oh, but she wasn’t done. After models made their finale walk wearing those same pink knit hats, Ms. Missoni and her entire extended family come out onto the runway where she read the following statement:

“I feel the need to recognize that in a time of uncertainty there is a bond that can keep us strong and safe, that unites those that respect all human rights. Let’s show the world that the fashion world is united and fearless.”

Wham. This was without question the boldest activist statement we saw all season and it was BEAUTIFUL. You’ll want to read the full review for more detail.

Dries Van Noten

This season marked Dries Van Noten’s 100th runway show, which is pretty impressive. Rather than putting on some great spectacle, however, Dries chose simply to review his past 20 years of fashion by bringing back the models who wore the looks the first time around. Talk about age diversity! That meant there were models ranging from 45-years-old to 16-years-old all on the same runway. The entire atmosphere was fun, jovial, and sufficiently celebratory without going over the top.

Equally important is that Van Noten kept his catalog parade from feeling like a catalog parade. He overlayed his house silhouettes with geometric patterns that fit well with contemporary looks and kept everything fresh and lively. He even incorporated metallic fabrics there were literally everywhere this season. While Van Noten doesn’t always get an overwhelming amount of press during the season, he gave plenty of people reason to look at him this time around and they’ll likely stick around to see what happens next. Read more in our Pattern review.

Christian Dior

This was Maria Grazia Chiuri’s blue season, which would, in of itself, have been enough reason to include this Dior collection on our list of favorites. Blue is such a wonderful color for fashion in the first place, and her sense of design and styling fits the color very well. There was no way that this wasn’t going to be a strong collection.

However, what really causes this collection to stand out for me is her use of denim as a metaphor for women’s strength. When she sent down a set of blue denim overalls with a wool blazer, she had me. The message she was sending was emphatic: women can be strong, stylish, and feminine all at the same time. Women can work at the hardest manual labor jobs you want to throw at them and still turn around and be the belle of the ball without batting an eye. This was a more subtle form of political statement, but be very certain Ms. Chiuri was making a statement and women heard it. You’ll find more in our review.

Andreas Kronthaler For Vivienne Westwood

Vivienne walked.

That’s really all I should need to say. Instead of waiting and coming out at the end of the collection to take a bow as she always does, Dame Vivienne Westwood became a model in her husband’s collection and walked twice during this season’s show. The auditory response she received from the crowd was overwhelming. Dame Westwood is loved throughout both the fashion and environmental communities. Her clothes speak to those who don’t care to fit into current trends and those who love her clothes love her as well.

So, when Dame Westwood set foot onto the runway, the entire crowd erupted in cheers and totally forget anything else that came afterward. Nothing else mattered. Vivienne walked! Catch the full review on Pattern.

Stella McCartney

Leather has been a huge trend this season, but there are a lot of people who find the use of animal products cruel. The size of that audience is significant and leading that charge in the fashion world is Stella McCartney. Her animal-friendly collection has been the go-to line for animal activists for quite a while.

This year, however, she took it a step further with not-skin-skin, a new high-tech material that looks and feels identical to leather. Ms. McCartney is picky, mind you. She’s very much aware of her brand’s luxury status and knows that if she doesn’t maintain quality she loses that status. She waited until she had a material that she’s confident is as strong and as durable as real leather. While I can’t speak to the durability of the product, I can say that it certainly looks like leather with the exception of being a bit more flexible. The question now is whether the rest of the industry will follow suit. The answer lies in what consumers demand, so that one’s totally up to you. See the full review on Pattern.

And now we’re done, although I’m sure I’m leaving someone out. Overall, this hasn’t been as boring a season as some of those previous. Perhaps the sense of activism helped more of the clothing lines take a more serious tone, which is a good thing. We didn’t get the sense that anyone was “phoning it in” this season as we often have before. Not that every collection was great, mind you. We’re still wondering about both the Gucci and Prada collections. Those were both… interestingly creative. And if we didn’t review your favorite designer it may very well be because we watched and decided there wasn’t any point in dragging the whole label through the mud because we couldn’t find anything nice to say.  We try to not be totally mean, but there are limits.

So, the Autumn/Winter 17 season is past and we’re already looking toward Spring/Summer 18. Just this morning, Chloé announced Clare Waight-Keller’s replacement as Natasha Ramsy-Levi. Already we have something to which we can look forward. Who knows what else might happen between now and then. Perhaps Roberto Cavalli will find someone worthy to take the reigns of that ship. Know that we’ll be watching, waiting, and planning a great experience for you this fall.

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Current Issues  /  Fashion  /  News & Comment
Defying Authority
February 9, 2017
charles i. letbetter - defying authority

Retailers don’t care who Ivanka’s daddy is, they’re not carrying her junk.

 

charles i. letbetter - defying authority

The Short Version

Retailers including Nordstrom and T.J. Maxx have dumped Ivanka Trump’s fashion line, saying that the products were cheaply made and not selling well. Ivanka’s daddy, who just happens to be president of the United States, tweeted his anger toward Nordstrom yesterday. Not only did the tweets not have the desired effect, it once again draws attention to the ethics issues raised by the president’s business holdings.

A Little Background

Fashion retail is a challenging market, as we’ve discussed several times before. Several once-popular chains have gone completely under. So, it makes sense that a store would stop selling anything that doesn’t sell well. Back in January, department store Nordstrom, as well as T.J. Maxx and Marshall’s, announced that they were dropping the entire Ivanka Trump line because they didn’t sell well last year. Any sane business person would have done the same thing.

Unfortunately, it is an insane businessman we have elected as president.

What The President Said

Yesterday, almost a month after Nordstrom and other retailers dumped his daughter’s label, the president issued this tweet:

Typically, that would be bad news for Nordstrom. Other times the president has tweeted about a company, their stock took a dive. Not this time.

That’s right, the company’s stock value went UP after the president’s tweet. Could it be that the great orange one holds no sway over fashion? That would certainly seem to be the case.

The Washington Post quotes Indiana University retail merchandising professor Mary Embry on the matter:

“Politics certainly do matter in fashion,” she said, “but the strength of the Nordstrom stock validates the strength of the decision making of that retailer that is based on absolutely knowing its customer.”

Also, she said: “The president is not seen as having any particular expertise on fashion.”

The Fallout

The loss of influence may not be the only consequence of the president’s actions. While the tweet was initially issued from the president’s personal account, it was later re-tweeted from the official @POTUS account. That would appear to be a serious ethics violation, using his position as president to influence a business on his daughter’s behalf. That is a very big no-no in both business and political circles.

Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, told the Associated Press: “The implicit threat was that he will use whatever authority he has to retaliate against Nordstrom, or anyone who crosses his interest.”

Ethicists all over the country have been weighing in on social media and while some defend the president’s use of his private account to defend his daughter, there is very little question that retweeting the message on the president’s official account is definitely crossing a line.

This adds to a growing list of ethics concern that could eventually end up as part of a Congressional investigation, though the president and Congressional leadership are doing everything they can to prevent that from happening. However, Congress cannot stop the growing number of lawsuits against the president for breaching ethics issues. Already, the president is facing multiple lawsuits over his failure to fully divest his business holdings as other presidents have done. Most damaging may be a lawsuit that claims the president has violated the Emoluments clause of the Constitution. Should the courts ultimately decide against the president, then Congress would be compelled to take action against him.

For all the reasons for opposing the President, ethics is the one over which he has total control. He doesn’t have to tweet at all. He doesn’t have to comment. He chooses what, when, and where he is going to speak. The entire ethics argument could go away overnight were the president to simply keep his hands in his pockets and be more presidential in what he says. Unfortunately, this president seems to be incapable of either of those things.

Over at T.J. Maxx, employees have been instructed to remove all Ivanka Trump merchandise from their shelves and place the branded signs in the trash.

If only it were so easy to remove the president.

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Fashion  /  PotD
Recycling Fashion’s Trash With New Fashion
September 6, 2016
charles i. letbetter - recycling fashion

We live in a disposable society. It’s easier to throw things out than to fix them. We even give it a name – we call it recycling. —Neil LaBute

charles i. letbetter - recycling fashion's trash to create new fashion

Recycling old clothes to create new fashion addresses a big problem, but is it enough?

Sitting near my back door are two trash bags full of clothing waiting to be donated to … something. We’ve thought about different charities, but looking into them we were disappointed by the number of clothes still ending up in landfills. There are a few stores around that will give you store credit (minimal as it may be) for donating your used clothing to them, but they still end up throwing much of those donations into the incinerator. Actual recycling of clothes doesn’t happen as much as we’d like to think.

As we prepare for the onslaught of new clothing that arrives with the beginning of a month of fashion weeks, we need to stop and take a moment to consider what we’re doing with the things we cast off. As (hopefully) wonderful new designs come down the runway, we’re likely to see a lot that we want hanging in our closets. The problem is that our closets are already full. Our dresser drawers are already overflowing. Before we buy new, we have to make space by tossing out the old.

Some people religiously donate to charitable resale shops. Others try to make a dime back at consignment shops. Too many others don’t want to be bothered and simply throw things in the trash. In doing so, as much as we might think we’re doing something good, we are creating a problem.

Fast Fashion Is  A Dirty Business

We’ve talked about it before, how much fast fashion generates more clothing than can be worn. By some accounts, fast fashion is the second dirtiest business in the world. Only the oil industry produces more pollution. For the better part of the past decade, environmentalists have warned about the tremendous impact of fashion’s overwhelming waste. Between the harsh chemicals used in fabric production and the amount of material deposited in landfills, the negative impact of fashion is greater than its economic benefit.

And that’s not even taking into consideration the immoral use of animal hide and fur.

Both the producer and the consumer are at fault. Garment manufacturers are under pressure to produce materials at increasingly lower costs in order to feed fast fashion’s discount-oriented machine. Recycling these materials is difficult because the chemicals used in their creation destroys fibers making it difficult for stitching to hold up over any length of time. Fabrics begin to fray, become discolored, and start to fall apart after only a few washings.

Consumers don’t treat clothes any better. We use fabric softeners and harsh laundry detergents that not only pollute the water but further erode the quality of the fabrics. Simply by trying to maintain our clothes we are destroying them. Then, not liking the damaged condition of our wardrobe, we throw them away, by the ton. We don’t even consider recycling in many cases because the condition of the clothing is just too poor.

A Possible Solution

Answers to big problems sometimes come from unlikely sources. In this case, one of fast fashion’s leading retailers, H&M, is at least trying to find sustainable solutions. An article in WWD yesterday takes a look at the retailer’s efforts at recycling used clothing by turning them into new fashion. H&M partnered with the London College of Fashion in creating a contest urging design students to use donated materials as the central element in a capsule collection.

Fabrics for the project came from H&M’s policy of allowing customers to bring in castoff clothing, regardless of origin. The program, which began in 2012, promises consumers a discount on a single item in the store in exchange for their donation. Shoppers are told that their donations will be recycled or used for new garments. The contest is an important step toward fulfilling that promise.

33 teams participated in the project aiming to waste no material in the production of new fashion. Eight winners were announced, though there is no mention as to whether any of the collections might be considered for production. The message sent to design students, however, was pretty clear: recycling materials gets you hard-to-find attention.

Will It Really Work

Cecilia Brännsten, H&M’s sustainability business expert, told WWD:

We will need a holistic approach to circularity. It will include the whole life cycle from design, what chemicals we put into our products, material choice, production processes and new ways of enjoying fashion by reuse, rental, and repair.

Such an attitude is necessary if fast fashion is going to survive. Without it, there is a place in the near future where the mountains of cast-off and unsold clothing become a burden that cannot be ignored. The current model of fast fashion is simply not sustainable.

However, recycling solutions require consumer participation at a much higher degree than what is currently taking place. While we are pleased to see design students thinking of recycling, making the leap from contests to actual production requires that those mountains of clothes be available to garment manufacturers rather than in landfills. If consumers don’t participate in recycling programs, there is no source for the new designs.

Doing Your Part

I’m going to stop short of actually endorsing H&M’s clothing donation program. I think it is going to take more than a one-time 15% discount for them to procure enough usable fabric to actually turn recycling into a viable fabric source.

At the same time, though, those who shop fast fashion retailers like H&M need to share in the burden of finding a sustainable solution to all the waste they’re creating. Perhaps if there were a requirement for shoppers to donate at least one item before buying a new one then recycling programs might stand a chance. I don’t see that happening, though, as it would cut into the impulse shopping that accounts for the majority of fashion  purchases in the first place. Consumers, people like you and me, have to be motivated to do more.

Unfortunately, if a problem isn’t causing us adverse pain we tend to not care about being part of the solution. We want other people to do the work for us. Too many people think that their participation doesn’t matter. If we’re going to put a dent in the amount of fashion waste created then we all have to participate in recycling programs, whether at H&M or elsewhere. Stop putting fabric in the trash. Either find a way to reuse materials yourself or make it available to someone who can.

I sincerely believe H&M and other fashion retailers want to be responsible. Doing so is good for their bottom line. Nothing changes without your participation, however. You need to be fashion responsible. Before you swipe your credit card for that new Dior blazer, consider donating something from your closet to a recycling project. We’ll all be better for it.

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Fashion  /  Fashion Review
Do We Need Fashion Reviews?
April 17, 2016
charles i. letbetter - do we still need fashion reviews

A bad review is like baking a cake with all the best ingredients and having someone sit on it. —Danielle Steel

 

charles i. letbetter - do we still need fashion reviews

As the world of fashion changes, so must how we report and review fashion shows.

In case you’ve not been reading very long or don’t know me very well, for the past five seasons I’ve written reviews of women’s ready-to-wear fashion shows for Pattern. Prior to that, I would write similar reviews and either publish them here or on Facebook, depending on what seemed to make the most sense at the time. Beyond that, I spent many years at the end of those runways in the photographer’s pit and backstage capturing images for agency clients. My relationship with and understanding of the world of fashion is long and probably deeper than the average photographer.

Against that background, perhaps you can understand my interest when an article crossed my path this past week with the headline, The Extinction of the Fashion Critic. Fashion critics? Extinct? Last I checked, we hadn’t lost anyone. I know most the major magazine’s fashion reviewers and they’ve all been in reasonably good health, other than the perpetual jet lag and never seeming to get quite enough sleep. Everyone’s Twitter account is still active, so I don’t think we’re dying off just yet.

I do understand the premise of the article, though. With everything changing in the world of fashion, one might wonder exactly how fashion review and criticism is going to adapt. The article overstates some aspects, though, and I want to take a moment to clarify those.

  1. Fashion is not seasonless. I find the very notion that seasons have come to an end to be utter bullshit. If you believe such tripe, you’re not paying attention. If anything, seasons are more important than ever and statements this past February from both the Paris and Milan governing fashion bodies solidified that fact. Despite what a few designers are doing in terms of “see now, buy now,” fashion seasons don’t go away, they merely catch up to real time.
  2. Designers have always moved around. The fact that Ms. Michault seems to think that this is detrimental to fashion in any way demonstrates either her lack of understanding of the industry, her naivete about designers, or possibly both. As designers grow, change interest, or want to explore new opportunities, they change houses and the competition for the best designers is as high as it has ever been. Designers are going to move.
  3. Gender ambiguity does not dilute fashion review in any way. If anything, as more designers blur gender lines or completely remove any gender identity, the need to carefully review and critique those collections becomes all the more important. Genderless fashion has an extra burden to remain interesting and attractive while omitting the lines and silhouettes to which we are most accustomed.
  4. Only a small handful of critics receive any form of compensation or indulgences from fashion labels. Sure, there may be a gift bag on your seat when you arrive, but everyone present gets the same gift bag. Even more important, as bloggers have become a stronger presence at fashion shows, many indulgences have diminished. Bloggers are not given the same consideration as print critics and are frequently traveling on their own dime.

All that being said, however, as the fashion world slowly changes, so will the how, when, and why of fashion reviews and criticism. While I don’t expect a lot to change this season, and probably not the one after that, that we would need to adapt to those changes just makes sense. Here are some of the adjustments I expect us to be making in the next few seasons:

  1. Critics will be more picky about which labels they review. The number of designers showing at the four major fashion weeks continues to grow, making it impossible to even given a glancing nod to most. My most ambitious season saw us covering over 200 shows over the four weeks, and that left me thoroughly exhausted. As fashion changes, we are going to more carefully consider which shows are of greatest interest to our readers and limit our coverage accordingly.
  2. Labels that do “See now, buy now” options are likely to become a priority. When the fashion on a runway isn’t going to be available for six months, if at all, it becomes less important to readers than what is available to them right now. If a piece can be purchased immediately, it matters more whether that piece matches trends, works with other things you have in your closet, or has a severely limited life span. So, it makes sense to put more time and effort behind these collections.
  3. Pre-season and capsule collections will get more attention. Note: not every designer does pre-season collections and more than a few designers have listed that additional work as a substantive factor in their creative fatigue and burnout. That being the case, we may eventually see a reduction in the number of pre-season collections. Where they exist, though, and especially with designer-retailer capsule collections, reviews that relate those clothes to the main collection become more important. If there is significant difference between the two, we may be seeing signs of a shift in trends that could affect one’s purchasing decision.
  4. Critics may begin to consider cross-label pairings more frequently. As things in the fashion industry change, the relationship between critics and consumers is likely to become tighter. With so many different labels hitting stores, shoppers want help in knowing what matches. Rarely does anyone actually wear an ensemble as it is shown on the runway. Rather, they match Armani slacks with a Chanel jacket over a Dior blouse. Reviews that help aid those decisions will become increasingly important.
  5. Reviews may be adapted for different social media platforms. We’ve seen a bit of this already as critics frequently live tweet from fashion shows and some even provide brief video clips when they’re seated in a position that makes such possible. Instagram reviews have been a thing for four seasons now and don’t show any signs of letting up. Don’t be surprised when reviews start popping up as ads or publish directly to a magazine’s Facebook page.

Guessing at all the changes yet to come to the fashion industry is impossible, and it’s certain that none of that change is likely to happen quickly. Through all this change, consumers need a consistent and reliable voice to guide them through all the turmoil. Fashion critics are far from extinct. Our reviews are more important than ever. And, as always, we’ll be right there with a look at trends and quality and a sense of what works for you.

Thank you for reading.

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PotD
What Are You Doing For NYFW
February 10, 2016

Playing dress-up begins at age five and never truly ends.—Kate Spade

 

charles i. letbetter - what are you doing for NYFW

With so many shows to watch, deciding where to spend one’s time is a difficult decision

New York Fashion Week, aka: NYFW, starts in less than 24 hours. I think I’m ready. There’s coffee. There’s chocolate. My phone is charged. There are pain relievers in my pocket. My comfy pseudo-dress shoes are ready. Everything is ready on Pattern for our reviews. Reading glasses, ink pens, photo editing … yeah, we’ve got this. I think.

Last year this season, we took it really easy, rarely doing more than two reviews a day. This season, we might be a little more aggressive, depending on the weather and exactly what we see from the different shows. There are a lot of new names on the official schedule this  season, so we’re setting our sights on shows that are dependable and saving the rookies as possible additions if they manage to really impress. If there’s someone you just really, really want to make sure we cover, then let me know ASAP.

No schedule is ever as firm as we might like. Marissa Webb has already had to move her show to avoid conflict with a loud-mouthed, attention-seeking, ego-driven rap star. The weather forecast for New York isn’t exactly friendly, either, which could impact shows scheduled for the Dock venue. So, what we’re highlighting on our schedule below are the shows we know we’ll cover regardless of circumstances. We’ll try to be as timely with our reviews as the process allows. Follow along and let’s make this fun!

What we’re doing for NYFW:

Thursday, 11 February

We’ll start our day with BCBG Max Azria. Lubov Azria is firmly in control of the brand now and as such we’re hoping to see some changes in the direction she goes for fall. Creatures of the Wind hits at noon and will likely be the highlight of the day. We can’t miss Marissa Webb early in the evening, especially since she’s changed her show time. We’re totally ignoring the big mouth showing at Madison Square Garden. Show off.

Friday, 12 February

Jason Wu is the big show to watch today. We were disappointed last season and are really hoping he steps up his game this year. Tadashi Shoji, Kate Spade, and Nicole Miller are also worth watching. Zoolander 2 hits theatres today, though, so cross-marketing surprises could show up anywhere.

Saturday, 13 February

Dion Lee has our attention in the morning. Then, Alexander Wang shows at 5:00 PM and that never fails to, at least, be entertaining. Altuzarra will keep us up late. There could really be some surprises in today’s schedule, though, so we’re trying to stay as flexible as possible.

Sunday, 14 February

Will we fall in love with anything we see on the runway? We certainly hope so! There are SO many choices here, and a lot may depend on weather and timing. Victoria Beckham, Public School, and Derik Lam all show in the first part of the day. Hood by Air,  Diane von Furstenberg, and Prabal Gurung show later. We may need an extra heart-shaped box of chocolates to get through this one. Public School is really going to be under a microscope.

Monday, 15 February

Another very busy day as Carolina Herrera and Tommy Hilfiger dominate the morning. I’m especially eager to see how Tommy implements his Instagram photographer’s pit. Real photographers are upset, so this could get messy. Zac Posen and Rag & Bone finish the day with a few new faces tossed in between. I wouldn’t mind seeing someone really break out of today’s pack.

Tuesday, 16 February

There’s a lot of activity during the day, and one newcomer to NYFW we’ll be watching closely is Ohne Titel at 1PM. However, the heavy hitters are much later, with Oscar de la Renta at 6:30 and Narciso Rodriguez at 8.

Wednesday, 17 February

Here’s where things could get really boring. Can Michael Kors show us anything that is really worth discussing? Jason Wu usually does better with BOSS than he does with his eponymous label but will he really show us any creativity? The guys at DKNY have a lot to prove this season if they’re given the chance, and Marchesa tends to like this season. However, they’ve all stumbled in recent seasons and left us yawning. We’ll see how it goes.

Thursday, 18 February

Only the big boys are allowed to play here. Ralph Lauren, J. Mendel, Calvin Klein, and Marc Jacobs. Of the group, though, only Marc Jacobs is likely to do anything really astonishing.

All the reviews will be on Pattern, so bookmark it now if you haven’t already. Follow us on Twitter (@charlesletbette) and Instagram (@charlesletbetter) to be alerted when new reviews are posted. It’s going to be an interesting month, NYFW is finally here, so buckle in and hang on!

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Fashion
Putting The Fix On The Fashion System
February 9, 2016
charles i. letbetter - putting the fix on the fashion system

A leader is someone who helps improve the lives of other people or improve the system they live under.—Sam Houston

 

charles i. letbetter - Putting the fix on the fashion system

We all know the fashion system is broken. The big question now is how to fix it. There are a lot of ideas.

We are two days away from the start of New York Fashion Week. Stop and think about that for a minute. In two days, catwalks are going to be full of clothes largely designed not to be worn now, but next fall. At best, you’ll start seeing them in August. Then, by the time fashion weeks end in early October, those clothes start going on sale. How is anyone actually making any money in this silly game we call fashion?

That’s just it; a lot of companies are not making money and those few that are seem to be anomalies rather than leaders that others can follow. Consider the news from earlier this morning that the retailer Banana Republic had sales drop a whopping 17% in January compared to the same time last year. Gap and Old Navy also announced declines, but neither were as severe as Banana Republic. The fashion system is broken from beginning to end and that’s making some desperate to try anything in an attempt to fix what’s wrong.

Consider Russian-born designer Demna Gvasalia. If you’re not already familiar with that name, write it down and underscore it in red. Not only are he and his brother Guram the power behind the Vetements collective, but he was also recently named as creative director for Ballenciaga. We’re going to be seeing a lot of him, to be sure, but probably not where we expect. He announced last week that Vetements is going off-schedule and plans to start showing their collections in January and June instead. The concept behind the move is that this gives their clothes more time on the shelves before they start getting the mark-down treatment.

Gvasalia isn’t the only one trying things new. Burberry announced last week that they will consolidate their mens’ and womens’ lines in their September show and that customers can purchase pieces they like immediately after the show. Tom Ford joined Thakoon, Rebecca Minkoff, and Mathew Williamson in skipping the upcoming season entirely so that they can come back in September with their fall/winter collections and immediate purchase options. Hunter is abandoning the schedule completely and opting to show at music festivals.

Fashion industry magazine Business of Fashion published an opinion piece  online yesterday that is a conversation between an editor, a designer, a blogger, a retailer, and a consultant. The article is interesting and you can read the full conversation here if you have the time. While the effort was earnest, however, I’m not sure the people involved are the ones who can truly transform the system. Perhaps had the editor been Condé Nast’s Anna Wintour, the designer been Raf Simmons, and the retailer was H&M CEO Karl-Johan Persson, there might have been a conversation that actually had a chance of changing the system. [Not to slight anyone, but including a blogger seems, to me, more of a courtesy as they are not truly in a position to directly impact processes within the system.]

What the group did, however, was identify problematic issues within the fashion system that most everyone agrees need to be changed. Solutions are debatable, of course, and there is no one-size fits all method that everyone can follow. Still, they make for good talking points so let’s consider what those areas of concern are:

  • Fashion is moving too fast. JJ Martin of Wallpaper* said, “A lot of fashion houses today are being run like consumer packaged goods companies. There’s no difference between selling handbags and toothpaste.” Here is the reason that so many companies are having to fall back on accessories and perfumes in order to make money. The fashion system is moving too fast and, as a result, over producing. There are more clothes on store shelves at any given time than we can even begin to comprehend, let alone actually buy. Consumers are so inundated with wave after wave after wave of new clothing that they feel they can’t catch up. No matter what one buys, when it is replaced on the shelves the next day that new garment now feels out of style. The obvious solution: slow down and restock shelves a mere four times a year, not every week. Sounds simple, but it would mean retailers and department stores completely changing their business models.
  • Show schedules are disconnected from buying schedules. This is the problem to which Tom Ford and others are reacting by moving their fall/winter lines to show in September rather than now. This is not an easy switch, though, and, as I’ve mentioned before, there are going to be some serious logistical issues to conquer in making this profound change to the system work. Where do buyers fit in? How is the supply chain converted? Does this change how shows are presented? This is definitely a pro-consumer move, but changes for those caught in the middle could make delivery almost impossible.
  • Brands don’t understand how to do digital. Instagram. Twitter. Snapchat. Periscope. Online purchasing. There are a handful of brands that handing the digital aspect of fashion very well, but the majority are dumbfounded, trusting large portions of their fashion empires to 20-somethings doing inexplicable things with digital cameras and computers. There are still some brands that are not represented online at all, believe it or not. The digital takeover of all things consumer-based has been overwhelming for fashion brands and both creative directors and CEOs have huge gaps in their understanding of how digital can/should work for them. Consider how many brands still won’t stream their runway shows this season, despite the fact that it has a proven positive impact on sales. The challenge here is that convincing anyone to adopt something to which they are already resistant is nearly impossible. This deficit alone could spell doom for some long-standing brands.
  • Creatives are overwhelmed and in crisis. The 2010 suicide of Alexander McQueen should have been a wake-up call for the entire fashion system. There is a limit to how much a creative mind can produce and, for the most part, we are exceeding that limit. Witness the recent exits of Raf Simmons and Alber Elgar from Dior and Lanvin respectively. Both were being asked to do too much in too short a time frame. They are not the only ones suffering under this impossible expectation. Look at how boring fashion has become. How many designers have little time to do more than re-work the label’s catalog rather than create anything genuinely new? Slowing down to only four collections a year would help, but fashion is going to lose more great minds if this doesn’t change quickly.

I remain convinced that one answer overlooked by the gigantic fashion system at large is to buy more from local designers and boutiques. Consumers can push a lot of positive change simply by altering their buying habits just a little bit. Start taking some of the cash out of Karl-Johan Persson’s hands and put it into the local economy through local makers. If only 10% of fashion consumers dropped department store shopping completely, the fashion system would immediately turn and take notice, supporting more local fashion rather than investing in seeing how impossibly large two or three players can get.

I also remain quite certain that putting designers in charge of their own houses and letting some brands die off is a good thing for fashion. This would help reduce some of the over-supply that is choking retail and would also support younger designers who, perhaps, might find even better ways to engage digitally. This could be an especially critical move as Millennials, who are not especially materialistic, take over as the lead shopping demographic.

Great change isn’t going to arrive by Thursday. I’ll still give you the blow-by-blow account on Pattern, and we will do our best to make it enjoyable. But if anything, now that we are talking about the problems in the fashion system, we’re likely to see them even more glaring than before. The road could get rocky. Hold on.

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Fashion
NYFW: One Week To Go
February 4, 2016
charles i. letbetter - NYFW one week out

“I can handle crazy, but this is like a whole new batch of crazy.”—Overheard at NYFW

 

charles i. letbetter- NYFW ONE WEEK OUT

NYFW is only one week away!!

One week from today, the madness better known as #NYFW starts at The Dock with Nicholas K at 9:00 AM. From that point forward, we will spend the next four weeks carefully watching fashion show after fashion show after fashion show. Those that impress us the most we will review for Pattern. Those that don’t impress (which will be the majority) we’ll likely ignore. Those that are truly horrible, and that does occasionally happen, we’ll trash in the hopes that, like Mark & Estel, they don’t return next season (actually, we are beginning to wonder if Mark & Estel are going out of business. Their website hasn’t been updated since immediately after NYFW last year and no new collections have been added.).

With only a week left to prepare, we’re anxiously watching for any major announcements, especially should someone such as Hedi Slimane announce that they’re leaving their current label. For many designers, contract negotiations come down to the wire about now and it’s not at all unusual to see some of those fail right before a designer’s final show. So, here’s a quick look at the major topics we’re looking at for the moment, all of which are subject to change should something bigger come along.

Diversity is still an issue. We’ve talking about the lack of diversity the past two seasons, and last season (shown in September) was better than the one before it. Still, the early word from agents and casting directors is that very little is going to change from last season. That means we’ll still have an overabundance of runway presentations where two or three models of color appear only as tokens. What will it really take to change the status quo? Major editors and buyers staying away, which they’re not inclined to do. No one wants to accidentally miss a breakout line, so they put up with horrible behavior on the part of designers and fail to hold them accountable. When so much of fashion’s core demographic is any color but white, you’d think designers would do a better job of playing to a multi-ethnic audience. Unfortunately, this doesn’t look to be the season we see significant change.

How old is that model? Russian model Kristina Pimenova has done an editorial for Vogue Italia and campaigns for Armani, Gap, and DSquared² juniors lines. Her career is so hot at the moment that she just moved to LA. She’s ten years old. Yes, you read that correctly. Ten. While child labor and child modeling laws in Europe limit the age of runway models, there are no such restrictions at NYFW. While the CFDA strongly discourages the use of models under the age of 15, they have little recourse should a designer decide to not follow those rules. With the current editorial trend being toward young and younger models, there is more than a little concern that some may attempt to slip younger girls into the mix. This can be very  difficult to catch, though, so we may not know until it’s too late to do anything about the situation.

Challenges in the contemporary market. If you’re not sure which labels classify as contemporary, think Theory, Alexander Wang, 3.1 Philip Lim, and Public School. Those and other brands rely less on traditional silhouettes and focus more on styles and designs that are more modern, and often more urban, than what we get from older houses. We tend to think of contemporary brands as more cutting-edge and trend-setting, but that doesn’t always translate well when it comes time to fill store shelves. Shoppers want clothes that are distinct, but at the same time they want looks with which they are comfortable. They’re also wanting deeper discounts, such as the pricing they get from fast fashion. Supply is currently outstripping demand and same-store sales have declined dramatically. We’re expecting contemporary labels to step up the high-end game a bit more this season in an effort to woo those more traditional designer shoppers.

Zoolander references everywhere you look. It is no mistake the movie Zoolander2 opens next Friday, the day after NYFW begins. Cross-marketing between the movie and the fashion world is excessively strong and multiple designers cooperated in the making of the movie, including cameo appearances by more than a few. As a result, catching the direct and indirect Zoolander references is likely to become something of a game. The only problem is, with the NYFW schedule so very, very full, who has time to stop and go see a movie?

Who are all these new people? Looking through the NYFW schedule, there are new names on almost every day. While there are always some major designers, such as Marc Jacobs, who show off-site and off-schedule, there are more than a few recognizable names missing from this season’s lineup. In their place are not only a larger-than-usual collection of new designers, we’re seeing more group and retail shows signing up for presentations as well. Kids Rock! hits the catwalk Thursday night, Fashion Hong Kong shows Friday afternoon, Asian Fashion Collection hits Sunday at noon, and the much anticipated JD.com show is next Wednesday at 7. For those not familiar, JD.com is China’s largest online retailer and their presence at NYFW is notable. We’ll be watching the newcomers very carefully and won’t hesitate to lavish praise on those who do especially well. Who knows, we may even find a new favorite!

Still being a week out means there’s plenty of time for additional issues and concerns to pop up as well. We’re trying to find reasons to get excited for what has recently been the most boring month imaginable. Let’s cross our fingers and hope this season is an exciting one!

 

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Fashion
Catching Up On Fashion
January 4, 2016
charles i. letbetter - fashion catch up

Fashion is architecture: it is a matter of proportions.—Coco Chanel

charles i. letbetter - Catching Up With Fashion

I oh-so-briefly considered doing a summary of last year’s fashion news and quickly dropped the idea when, after about three minutes of research, I realized there was just too much that happened across too wide a range of fashion-related topics to ever do the subject any justice on my own. Fortunately, the good folks over at Business of Fashion have already done a more-than-adequate job of concatenating stories that were either important or, at the very least, received a lot of response, and then divided them into nice, readable chunks so that we don’t feel completely inundated by the volume. This makes my job very easy: Link you to their lists, which is what I’m about to do.

 Fashion 2.0

Fashion 2.0 is BoF’s fashion tech section and covers everything from mobile apps to wearable tech. Be sure to check out the article on Instagram wars.

Intelligence

What would fashion be if we couldn’t speculate about what may or may not be happening behind the scenes? From this list, be sure to read Do Fashion Trends Still Exist? and Between the Catwalk and the Consumer: Fashion’s Growing Diversity Gap.

Brands

For a fashion label to truly succeed, attention has to be given to building the brand. There’s  more than one way to the top, as this set of articles shows. The article on Uniqlo may be the best read for later conversation; the company is determined to take over fashion retail.

People

Oh my goodness, but this is one topic that is never short of drama and intrigue. By-passing all the who’s-going-where intrigue, though, this list focuses on more positive-toned articles. Check out the piece on Diane von Furstenberg as well as Lisa Eldridge.

Global Currents

Fashion is not isolated for its four major cities; what happens around the world impacts the entire market. Unfortunately, the news here isn’t all that good as markets in Russia and Brazil may signal the beginning of a global downturn. Each of these articles hold some serious thoughts.

Opinion

Everyone has an opinion and we all know those are not exactly high on value. Some of these are worth considering, though, and definitely worth the time to read.

There’s plenty of other year-end news as well, but this at least should help everyone get caught up before we become inundated with the new stuff this year.

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PotD
5 Signs You Are A Fashion Failure
November 28, 2015
charles i. letbetter - 5 signs you're a fashion failure

Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.—Coco Chanel

charles i. letbetter - 5 signs you're a fashion failure

Fashion is something that eludes 98 percent of all people. Take this wedding dress, for example, from designer Catherine Fritsch; as wonderful a concept as it is, the dress didn’t actually sell until years after this photo was initially released. The problem isn’t with the dress, but the not-quite-in-touch fashion opinions of those who turned it down. Thinking of all the brides who went with dresses as staid and boring as their now-married lives makes me sad. Fashion is about expression and personality and when one chooses less-than-interesting fashion for themselves they’re not exactly putting their best foot forward.

This photo also reminds me of just how much people change over the years. Originally taken in 2011, our model, Erin, was a bright, young college student working on her degree. She’s now married with a beautiful little girl and is head of a relatively significant government agency. Makeup artist Christopher Thompson now runs a haunted B&B in Atlanta, Indiana. Catherine Fritsch rebranded last year and her Rue Violet line generally sells quite well. Isn’t it wonderful to watch people grow?

Speaking of growing, let’s get to today’s list:

5 Signs You Are A Fashion Failure

No5When you see a dog wearing the same outfit as you and the dog wears it better.
Just because you saw something on last season’s runway, or your favorite celebrity, doesn’t mean it’s going to work for you. Consider how a garment is cut, whether it’s full or tailored. Full cuts are more generous and work with a wider variety of body types. Tailored looks, though, especially those designed to be tight around the hips and waist, make the wearer look like a sausage bursting from its casing if their curves don’t match the designer’s ideal. It’s better to have a wardrobe that actually looks good on you rather than trying to adopt someone else’s style.

No4When there’s no Pantone® number to match anything you’re wearing.
A couple of caveats at the beginning of this one: if you’re legitimately color blind you get a pass as well as if you’re young enough your mother still dresses you. For those who don’t know, Pantone® is the color-matching system used by printers to make sure they’re printing the correct color. Pantone has identified hundreds of thousands of shades of everything and indexed them numerically; they pretty much have ever visible color covered. Yet, every once in a while I’ll come across someone who has put a color combination on their body that even the Pantone book doesn’t cover it. No, dear, it doesn’t look good no matter what your friends say; they’re laughing behind your back. There are color wheels and charts all over the Internet. Use one.

No3When people follow you because they’re sure you must be on your way to a circus. 
I’ve seen designers send some pretty bizarre looks down the runway, but nothing beats the collision of styles that occurs when some people start mixing separates. Not everyone has a talent for matching styles and fabrics well. As a result, we see things like polka dots and ruffles mixed with denim and lace and two or three different animal prints along with stripes running in three different directions and eight contrasting colors all in the same look. No. Stop. Barnum & Bailey  is not a personal style. Seek help.

No2When you’re wearing fishnet and the park ranger gives you a ticket for carrying over the limit. 
The only thing that really looks good in fishnet every time is fish. Sure, we see a lot of it on the runways, but the best applications are as accents or carefully matched accessories, and even those don’t always work in the real world where we have to figure out how to dress ourselves. Remember, fishnet exposes what lies beneath it. Do you really need what is under your fishnet exposed? Also, just because fishnet is flexible doesn’t mean its tensile strength should be tested. Fishnet is ultimately a tailored element; don’t push it.

No1When the tags in all your clothes say “Made In Bangladesh.” 
Check the labels in your clothes before you buy anything. If the label says made in Bangladesh, Taiwan, Singapore, or Vietnam, know that your garment is assembled by the poorest of the poor, typically in conditions worse than those in which we house our farm animals. Among those, Bangladesh is likely the worst. If you’re buying clothes from H&M, Wal-Mart, Target, Old Navy, Penney’s, K-Mart, or any other discounter, chances are you’re contributing to the economic enslavement of thousands. Read here, here, here, and here for more details, then change your buying habits.

One of the many things I dislike about American buying habits this time of year is the over-emphasis on sales and who has the lowest prices. Fashion isn’t cheap. Quality clothes aren’t often found on the racks of discounters. Where and how you spend your money makes a difference in the lives of thousands of people. In the shopping realm of the holiday season, today is Small Business Saturday. We strongly encourage you to take advantage and look for garments made by local designers. Sure, you’re not going to find any $5 price tags, but your money is more likely to help someone rather than contribute to their enslavement.

Use some common sense, people. Shop smart. Happy holidays.

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