In a year full of shouted conversations, exchange of comments sustained in a very fine thread of voice and some dialogue maintained in the middle…. What will we remember from 2023 in terms of fashion?
The spark that started the fire was the appointment of Séan McGirr as Sarah Burton's replacement at Alexander McQueen. It was not McGirr's talent that sparked the controversy, but with him all the Kering group firms became managed by white men. The debate about which profiles reach positions of power was revived with new appointments at Blumarine and Moschino (again men, again white). The data is overwhelming: Vogue Business' top 30 luxury brands encompass 33 creative management positions. Only eight of them are occupied by women, and only one of them, Sandra Choi of Jimmy Choo, is not white. Pharrel Williams at Louis Vuitton and Maximilian Davis at Ferragamo are the only men of color to appear on that list. Balmain, which is not listed in that index, is led by Olivier Rousteing, a black person. Whether the controversy will continue or whether its echoes will reach the ears of those who make the decisions, we will only know with time.
The story had all the ingredients to succeed, especially on any given Sunday in September. Alexis Dougé met Josh on Tinder. On the second date, they both spent the night at Alexis' house, and the next day she discovered that not only the one she considered her new friend had left through the door: Josh took her Margiela Tabi Mary Janes. Desperate, Alexis shared her dramatic experience on TikTok in the hope that the social network would work its magic and its users would help her locate the thief. That was precisely what happened. The ending was happy for Alexis, who recovered her shoes; and for Maison Margiela, which according to Lyst saw searches for the famous design increase by 200%. Apart from the obvious conclusion, from this story firms can draw a very valuable one for 2024: nothing sells more than a good story told in video format with a duration of more than two minutes. You are welcome.
Proof that the fashion industry continues to celebrate thinness is how much, a lot, there has been talk about the drug used to treat diabetes and to suppress the appetite of those who do not have it, in addition to those who are or could be using he. Beyond the rumors, it is worth remembering that this year the Danish pharmaceutical company that markets this drug, Novo Nordisk, has become the most valuable company by market capitalization, overtaking none other than LVMH.
If you've been here in recent months, you already know that it has been the year of Miuccia Prada and Jonathan Andreson, of Miu Miu and Loewe. So let's go directly to what can only be categorized as the most anticipated return of recent months. Phoebe Philo's return had been announced in 2021. It would come in the form of a label bearing her name backed by the LVMH group, for which the designer reaped ten years of success and profits as creative director of Céline. In February of this year it was announced that the first collection, which would be divided into several drops, would go on sale in September. In the end, that first drop was presented in October. Sold out in a matter of minutes, it was both praised by lovers of Philo's design philosophy and criticized for its high prices (bags starting at 6,000 euros, blazers starting at 4,000, etc.). From the second installment, put on sale a month later, several items of clothing are still available. Does this mean that the designer has managed to create a truly exclusive brand?
In terms of fashion, the references were Simone Rocha and Sandy Liang. We've seen bows on heads, bows on dresses, bows on tops, bows on stockings, bows on Christmas decorations, bows on... burritos?
We may have taken the flirtatious trend too far, and everything indicates that this fever will lead to the already baptized bridalcore, an ironic approach to the ideal of femininity that is the universe of brides: use of veils, lace gloves, corsetry and garters for everything that doesn't involve saying “yes, I want.” Yes, we want to.
Fashion week has always been the worst time to move around Paris, Milan, London or New York. This year, in addition, the companies have decided to turn the city center into the setting for their fashion shows. First was the mid-June premiere of Pharrell Williams as creative director of Louis Vuitton's men's division, held at the legendary (as it is the oldest in the city) Pont Neuf in Paris. An event that began in the afternoon and lasted well into the night, a demonstration of power by LVMH that left some speechless and others with protests on their lips. Then came Balenciaga in the wealthy neighborhood of Windsor Swuare in Los Angeles and Chanel in Manchester, which before presenting its Métiers d'Art collection politely asked the residents of Thomas Street, which was closed for weeks, not to look out of its windows. during the show. The parade, however, represented an injection of more than nine million euros for the city according to the Marketing Manchester agency. It was bad.
The audience is tired of retouched photos, forced poses and unnatural situations. What does the audience want? Spontaneity. What have brands and celebrities given you? Carefully staged spontaneity. In addition to the Bottega Veneta campaign, the last days of the year have left us Emma Chamberlain promoting her beverage company at Pavilions (one of its points of sale), Shawn Mendes giving a boost to Glossier in West Hollywood and Kim Kardashian, who has always claimed not to enjoy the taste of coffee, leaving a Calabasas Starbucks with one of its famous paper cups in hand just one day after the company
Can a unilateral dispute be considered a “fight”? What began with “you could have invited me to the parade that mom participated in” has ended with “you are copying my dresses.” Demna and Guram Gvasalia founded Vetements as an anonymous collective in 2014. Shortly after, Demna was elected creative director of Balenciaga, but the two continued to collaborate on Vetements until 2019, when Demna's official departure occurred. Guram became the creative director of Vetements in 2021. The latter gave an interview to the New York Times in the summer in which he assured journalist Vanessa Friedman that his brother “has had his good run of 10 years, and I think his era slowly approaches its finish line. Now is my time.” He also claimed that Demna had been rewarded with better opportunities, and that it did not sit well with him that he made public his new role at Balenciaga on the day of his birthday.
Another topic that has been discussed in depth in these areas: the year leaves us with the in-extremis rescue of Farfetch, the bargain purchase of Matches, the uncertain future of the Yoox Net-a-Porter group and the doubt whether two Iconic establishments like Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus (which collaborated with Farfetch more than a year ago) are doomed to merge.
To have also been called “silent luxury”… it has been very quiet, right? The most talked about trend of the year, fueled by the wardrobe of HBO's Succession, has been so on everyone's lips that right now it's crying out for someone to give a new name to its style, characterized by precise cuts, exquisite materials and fabrics and absence of logos.
The Chiara Ferragni case has brought to the table the meaning (and sensitivity?) of a phenomenon that, ultimately, has been created by the audience. The story can be summarized like this: In November 2022, Ferragni, owner of a fashion brand and a marketing agency, collaborated with the Italian baking brand Balocco to launch a special edition of a pandoro. The Christmas dessert was presented to her almost 30 million followers on Instagram as a charity initiative to help children with bone cancer at the Regina Margherita Hospital in Turin.
The Italian Competition Authority decided to investigate the campaign and determined that this special edition was sold at a higher price than normal pandoros, leading consumers to believe that the margin was intended for donation to the hospital. Balocco was fined 420,000 euros, while the influencer and her companies received a fine of 1,075 million euros. Ferragni apologized on Instagram and promised to donate €1 million to the hospital, but also announced that he would challenge the fine, claiming it was disproportionate.
No matter how much we try to avoid it, consumers are to influencers what moths are to light points. This is the only way to explain why since 2019 its global marketing industry has tripled to more than 19 billion euros. The profiles of people who in some way influence the purchasing decisions of others have always existed, but with the advent of social networks, this dynamic increased significantly. The point is that for some strange reason there is only one thing that the audience enjoys more than following those opinion leaders and buying their pastries: watching their fall. And that says more about the observers than the observed.
Erected as the salvation of an industry that has seen the consumption of luxury products decline, probably because no one is quite sure what to do with it, the most sincere approach to this technology was that of Marc Jacobs last June when he presented his collection for this winter. The show lasted just three minutes, and the statement explaining the collection was written by ChatGPT. Under the title "Marc Jacobs: A striking fusion of masculine tailoring and feminine elegance," the dossier included concepts such as "men's suits for women," "flat shoes and black tights," "altered black and white dresses" and "the power of monocolor". Conclusion? Artificial intelligence may help us be more efficient, improve production chains or draw up plans and prospects for future growth, but it is far from having a soul.
