Fashion's Doom and Gloom

The buyers have spoken and the word from the massive trade show, New York's Fashion Coterie, is all doom and gloom. Yes, it's sad to say, but retail and the economy in general are really putting a cramp on the buyer's pocketbooks. Unfortunately that affects what you'll be seeing on the selling floor next Fall. All the doom and gloom of the housing bubble, c/card debt, high gas prices, and the uncertainty of an election have finally trickled down to the wonderful world of Fashion. The New York runway collections have been reported as being safe and practical. Even a disgusted Booth Moore of the LA Times wrote, "So many designers were stuck in the past, reviving old styles and old brands, too nervous to experiment during this time of economic uncertainty, that it was almost aggressively boring." What a shame for the frivolous world of fashion, where over-the-top clothing and accessories are suppose to take our minds off the reality of the economy. Yeah, we might all need more affordable options since we're tightening our purse-strings, but that doesn't mean we have to go overboard and start wearing all gray and lowering our hemlines. Fashion is certainly cyclical and I've been through this before, where fashion pulls back during bad economic times and than forges ahead and comes back even more lavish when times are rolling.

All in all, we had one of our best shows at Coterie this season, so I certainly can't complain about the economy affecting my business yet. But the word from the buyers is definitely one of caution. Only the strong stores who can ride the fickle wave of retail and endure the ups n' downs, will ultimately survive. I always design and present a much bigger collection than I actually end up producing, to give the buyers a lot of options (especially since the two coasts in general can want very different things.) And every time, thankfully, the line edits itself to a more manageable collection to produce. This season, with all the doom and gloom from buyers, they were clearly selecting the most neutral, safest color palette (think browns, grays, and blacks) and shapes that are classic, salable, and non-experimental for sure. I'm totally okay with that, as long as they place an order, but from a designer's stand point, it's a little of a bummer.

As a designer, our role is to push the envelope and give buyers things they haven't seen before or at least give them a fresh eye to what's ahead in fashion. I'm sure the Marc Jacobs and Peter Soms out there are equally as frustrated as me. Yes, their collections this season were some-what tamer and certainly not very experimental, but the "playing it safe" was not their idea I'm sure. From my experience at Calvin Klein, the merchandisers of the corporate world of fashion sometimes put their thumb down on innovation when sales are in a slump. I remember many design/merchandise meetings where merchandisers and the money men would want to bring back repeat styles that were proven in the past as good sellers rather than add new untested styles to the line during tough economic times. The designers, unfortunately, must grit their teeth and go with the flow so that the money keeps rolling in and they can keep forging ahead as a business.

So here we go again, let's add some neutral, safe colors (do we really need more gray and black in our wardrobes?) and bring back those tried and true best-sellers from last year (God forbid if we should try something new!) Forget about the fun, new colors, and experimental ideas (let's save those for when the economy goes back up hill) and let's play it safe. Unfortunately, you the consumer will suffer the most, and have boring, uninspiring choices next Fall in the stores.