Fashion Will Prevail

Well, the roller coaster is definitely heading downhill. Fashion has always been cyclical and the business side is certainly a roller coaster ride. I've been in business 10 years now and have ridden the ride - the 1998 dot com uphill bubble to the 2001 post-911 downhill to the 2005 spend-happy years uphill and now the 2008 stock market burnout downhill. It's been a crazy ride for sure and you just have to hang tough. Stacia will prevail! And yes, so will the world of fashion. In all the years I've been doing this (even during my early years at Calvin and J.Crew) I've seen times when fashion was full of risks and exciting when the economy was booming to years of bland, "safe" fashion when the economy was tittering. And even before my time, fashion has always been effected by the economy - the short skirt revolution was essentially a way to save on fabric in tough economic times!

It's certainly depressing and tiring to hear all the doom and gloom in the news over and over. But in business and especially in fashion, where you design a year in advance, you still have to keep moving along and project a positive attitude. I'm currently working on Fall 2009 and it's definitely been a delicate balance of supplying new exciting designs, yet a salable, somber palette that reflects the times. Yes, fashion is frivolous, but isn't that what we need in a depressing economic climate? Fashion should make you happy and take your mind off high gas prices, falling stocks, and failing banks. The best investment could very well be in your closet!

As Bruddah Iz says "starting all over again, it's going to be rough...but we're gonna make it..." It's actually my family's mantra when things just aren't going right. My husband and I always quote the iconic Hawaiian singer, Iz, and suddenly we have a smile on our face and we can face the future. So too in fashion, I'll be putting a smile on my face, humming to some Iz, and drawing up the future of fashion for Fall '09, and hoping for the best!