A New Beginning

It's been weeks since I've posted on this week and while I sort of grew into the name "Sassy & Hip", it's time to move on. Just as I graduated high school, I'm in a way also graduating from this blog?

You can find me now at ARTICLES OF FASHION, in a few months I'll re-direct this page straight to my new blog. But in the mean time if you could all check it out, I have a few new posts up and also "like" my new facebook page (facebook.com/articlesoffashion) that would be great!

So here's to a new beginning and many more exciting things in the future!

Let's Just Move it Along

Prada Fall/Winter 1998 Campaign
Source: http://styleregistry.livejournal.com/

I've struggled to write a post for some while now, but it's not because I'm out of ideas, it's simply because I can't keep up. The fashion schedule is as busy as it's ever been starting the year with menswear then couture and then fall collections and then before you know it there are the inter-seasonal collections followed by spring collections and the cycle the repeats itself. I took some time out from writing about fashion to really reflect on what I wanted to make this blog into as well as reflect on the fashion year which had just passed. Generally speaking, a year is a long time but, from what I discovered during this time is that a year in fashion is chaotic, exhausting and most of all, short-lived. There's no time for celebration anymore. Every season, after months and months of preparation, a 15 or so minute fashion takes place and then it's onto the next season. The experience of fashion has been cheapened as we are presented with 'yeah, that's ok' instead of 'the next truly great thing.'

Fashion is cherished because it's always reinventing itself. Sprawled across the glossy magazines you find at the checkouts of supermarkets is what fashion is stereotyped and summarised into; the 568 must-haves for summer. But really, who needs 568 new things for a season? This constant need of something new and reinvigorating has become a disease. A disease created by us. It's not viewed as a want but, a need, a sense of entitlement to something brand new and unexpected. Yet as fashion progresses forward with every season, what happens to last season?

We don't really think about last season anymore. I mean we really don't even have time to because of the immensely chaotic fashion schedule. We cherish those truly iconic moments in the past and that's about it. Because, really, who cares about what Miuccia did last season right?

It's quite saddening to see fashion lovers and enthusiasts forget what someone did last season because they've just presented a whole new collection. Even the term "last season" has become laced with negative notes of dismissal and denigration. Last season collections are simply disregarded with absolutely no respect because you must simply stay "in" fashion darling. This happens too often as countless brilliant "last season" collections fall victim to this disease of needing the new. Although we fashion connoisseurs aren't just to blame, the media refuses to report on designers past achievements, only the present.

Some may argue that this really shouldn't be a problem in fashion as fashion is obsessively moving forward but, what happens to the future if we don't acknowledge the past?

While a large part of this concerns collections, even sadder, great designers of the past and their work are short-lived. What remains are coffee-table fashion books published by Taschen or Phaidon praising their legacy and work through a few hundred photo-filled pages and a short essay on the subject. Even now, Christian Lacroix just seems like a forgotten memory.

There is no respect for true fashion or true genius but instead, the amount of collections produced and the amount of progression brought to the table by a designer. Fashion wants to constantly move forward - no matter the cost.

So, let's just move it along because the past is just a thing of the past, right?

The Circus of Fashion

Before Valentino F/W 2013 photographed by Adam Katz Sinding of Le 21 Eme 

“Blog is such a dirty word,” Leandra Medine aka the Man Repeller said it and I agree. When I started “blogging” it was around February/March of this year, I had little to no experience in writing about fashion. It was at this time the now infamously contentious article, “the Circus of Fashion” by Suzy Menkes surfaced. At the time I didn’t want to write about this issue because I felt I had no place. I had no authority nor credibility to write about the article and you could even argue that to this day and forth until I receive formal education in relation to fashion writing, I have no place and serve no purpose in the fashion industry. However, as the year ends and a new one begins, I feel as though I have matured both in words and my opinions of the fashion industry. The Circus of Fashion was an exceptional piece as it forced people to discuss the changing nature of the fashion industry and more importantly, the role of “bloggers” in fashion. The Circus of Fashion started a conversation that was well overdue.

You cannot deny that the Circus of Fashion serves up the brutal truth about the changing ways of the fashion industry. So brushing off Menkes as a “hater” of sorts would be juvenile and even disrespectful. The article surrounds the issue that in fashion there are indeed, show-offs – those who dress for the attention or the genuinely stylish. I think whilst this may be true to an extent, applying these two labels to the fashion industry directly opposes the liberal doctrine of fashion. I have said it before and I will say it again, fashion is supposed to be liberal. It shouldn’t be governed by laws or rules or regulations. No one should be able to say how low the hem of your skirt should be (here’s looking at you high school) or that you can’t wear jeans and runners together (yes I went there). Fashion serves a purpose for everyone, whether you’re aware of it or not, you are in fact a part of the fashion industry even if you don’t consider yourself “fashionable.” In any case, the genuinely “stylish” as Menkes refers to them may in fact be the show-offs.  So what is style? Can you see it? Can you feel it? How do you describe it?

Style is a social and psychic concept. Social because we do not constitute ourselves on our own, we rely on our social interaction with others to form opinions, theories and ideas. However social concepts do not instigate themselves by their own accord, they are a consequence of the interplay between the subject and the world around them. Thus the psychic concept is a sub-concept of the social one, analysing the social concept to create a psychic one in which our ideal sense of style is born. Therefore, the concept of style is really one of individual as well as communal accord and I don’t believe it’s up to anyone, even Menkes, to dictate the definition of “stylish”. Furthermore, you can equate the concept of style and the stylish with the “show offs”. Most of those labelled as “show offs” are just serving up their bespoke definition of style in perhaps a more flamboyant fashion than those serving up the “understated chic”. I don’t believe that flamboyancy should be equated with the label of a “show off”, it carries negative connotations and therefore allows room for misinterpretation. Especially when those given the label of a “show off” are underserving of it, which points to another issue associated with the Circus of Fashion, respect.

Like it or not, the fashion media/press now includes bloggers. Be it Susie Bubble or Bryanboy, these people carry more influence in fashion than celebrities now.  And you have them to thank for the top tier fashion labels’ presence on social media. Brands no longer want to be exclusive but want to appear accessible to a wider audience. Democracy. Digital media, through sites such as Style.com, NowFashion, bloggers and more make it possible for anyone to peek inside the enigmatic world of the fashion industry. But now too many bloggers are toting around their Céline Luggage bags as if there’s no tomorrow and have created a false interpretation of the industry of fashion bloggers. While it is most certainly true that bloggers receive gifts, trips to exotic locations paid for by the brand they’re campaigning and much more, it’s rare that bloggers are paid based on their merit over social media influence. I remember a while ago one of my friends asked me when I was going to start making money from my blog and honestly I was quite shocked. There was this expectation that I had to start profiting from my blog. I’ll be transparent, I’ve been contacted already by companies to become an advertiser and even allow companies to write posts on my blog but I’ve said no. The role of the fashion media is not to represent the paid views of others but be respected as a reputable opinion or source. And now we’ve come full circle back to respect.

So what are bloggers? Are they journalists? Editors? Creative directors? Stylists? In order to discuss the idea of respect in relation to bloggers, personal branding plays an important role in the development of respect. How they portray themselves and how this image and/or brand is perceived by others. Professionalism has always been at the forefront of reputable fashion media. However, professionalism is usually compared to formality. Depending on how a blogger brands themselves, you’ll usually see that blogs suffer from formality – that is however not to say that blogs suffer in the field of professionalism. You can be professional and not formal. Blogs have been long characterised as informal, to appear more accessible and approachable to everyone and anyone. They often represent raw and unedited opinions, which is really a scary thought in an industry where image and reputation is everything. Perhaps that is why the fashion media has been unwelcoming to bloggers. Although bloggers may be informal and professional, and may not hold the title of an “Editor in Chief” or “Journalist”, bloggers deserve the same respect as the rest of the fashion media and not to be minority who are scrutinized by fellow members of the fashion media.

Yet this issue lies not entirely at the hands of those reputable members of the fashion media, but also with bloggers themselves. Both the amateur and the veteran bloggers are to blame for the standards, expectations, misunderstandings and inaccurate representation of bloggers.

It’s time we all took time out to reflect on our personal brands and images we are trying to create in order to destroy this fun-house image of the fashion mob. Myself included.

This will be my last post for 2013 but I will be back in 2014 with a new blog layout, logo and title as this space continues its endeavour to bridge the gap between fashion as an industry, medium of creative expression and intellectual force. Whilst many things may change in this space during the coming months, this space will always represent my voice within the fashion industry.

Australia's New Retail Landscape

Chanel's new Melbourne flagship boutique
Source: Broadsheet.com.au

On a global platform, Australia has always struggled to synchronise it's seasons and trends every year because of it's geographical positioning within the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore domestically, our own Australian fashion industry has fought for it's international recognition. The truth is that we're always behind but, we can't help it because of the opposite seasons and because geographically Australia is positioned so far from the most influential cities of fashion - New York, Paris, London and Milan. And although we could potentially create our own niche of a fashion industry, the Australian textile and garment industry is simply too small. Most Australian consumers purchase their clothing from local commercial retail stores such as Cotton On, Sportsgirl or Factorie and all of these companies outsource their production to countries such as China or Bangladesh. The Australian fashion industry is becoming smaller and smaller everyday as imported brands takeover the cities of Melbourne and Sydney, leaving no choice for home-grown brands to either sell out and become commercially viable or leave the fashion industry all together. 

Over the last few years, living in the city of Melbourne, I've seen the influx of international stores and brands open stores in and around Melbourne. International designer brands arrived in Melbourne with the opening of stores such as Marais and Assin, both opening in 2004. While these two stores are distinctly different in their interiors and accompanying offerings, they share the same philosophy of exclusivity - both are hidden away from the prosaic city of Melbourne, offering an oasis for those who know where to look. Although Chanel has been a part of Australia's luxury retail market since 1988, being represented by a single store in Sydney until 2001, it's new flagship store in Melbourne is a sign of the changing retail landscape in Australia. The new Chanel store in Melbourne boasts a total of 4 levels, 2 of which are dedicated to providing the best shopping experience for it's customers. Dior's newly opened boutique in Sydney is also a sign of international brands investing in the success of the Australian retail market. Yet these brands are only a part of the growth of international labels, stores and designers Australia has seen in the past few years.

GAP was the first major international retailer to expand into Australia in 2010. Following this Zara opened it's doors in Australia in 2011, and currently have a total of 8 stores in Australia - most of them in either Victoria or New South Wales. While Topshop also expanded into Australia in 2011 and now own 4 stores with flagships in Victoria and New South Wales. H&M also announced it's decision earlier this year to open it's first Australian store next year at GPO in Melbourne and Uniqlo will be set to open a multi-level store in Melbourne's Emporium around April 2014, planning a number of stores to be opened within weeks after it's store in Emporium. These retailers are eyeing the possibility of global expansion and with their resources as some of the most powerful and largest international retailers in the world, the Australian market will soon become a tempting statistic for other international retailers wanting to achieve the same goal. While the Australian market becomes dominated by some of the most powerful players within the international retail market, this ultimately will force Australian retailers to compete with the availability and affordability of garments. Inevitably, Australian retailers such as Sportsgirl (a retailer who used to "borrow" ideas from Topshop) will be forced to become more efficient, original and affordable but in reality, Sportsgirl who has an impressive outreach within Australia, cannot compete with international retailers such as Zara backed by Inditex, the largest retailer in the world, who reported the Australian market as their most profitable. Sure, you can argue that many will buy Australian brands over international but when push comes to shove consumers will always be concerned with the two factors of affordability and availability over anything else - the two factors which are the most basic fundamentals of retailers such as Zara and H&M. Yet this is not the only monopoly international retailers hold over Australian retailers. Zara has an international following which equates to an international reputation. Sportsgirl has a small Australian following, reputation and it's target demographic is also extremely limited when compared to Zara's. Therefore as Australian consumers choose international over domestic, don't be so surprised when you see a decrease in the amount of Australian retailers continuing to operate successfully within the market.

Whilst the number of international brands have continued to successfully emerge in the Australian market, it has forced many designers to either sell out or leave the fashion industry altogether. In this past year alone, the Australian fashion industry has seen designers Lisa Ho and Kirrily Johnston being forced into administration. Lisa Ho's brand went under administration after having recorded a loss of $2.4 million and a debt of up to $11 million and less than a month after Johnston announced her decision to place her business in the hands of administrators. Johnston reportedly blamed a mixture of the GFC and manufacturing bad luck for the closure of her business. However, this was only the beginning of the demise of Australian fashion designers as Alannah Hill, Kit Willow and Collette Dinnigan all left their brands and consequently the industry. Although Dinnigan's official reason for leaving the fashion industry was to "free up time" to spend with her child and had no debt, it is a shame as she was the first Australian designer to ever show at Paris Fashion Week. Willow and Hill however have not stated reasons for leaving their eponymous brands. All the while, co-founders of Sass & Bide, Sarah-Jane Clarke and Heidi Middleton resigned as directors of their brand after Myer purchased the remaining 35% of shares, making Myer the sole shareholders of Sass & Bide. Thus, Sass & Bide, is now more than ever, becoming a commercially viable high-end brand. As the number of successful Australian designers and brands continues to diminish the question becomes if the Australian fashion industry will be able to sustain itself and it's consequent domestic retail market. 

The retail landscape in Australia is changing and it's becoming more international than ever before. And the international takeover is far from complete as more international brands and retailers continue to profit from their investment in the Australian retail market, more retailers and brands will soon follow. Thus forcing Australian retailers to either move over or compete with international retail standards of affordability and accessibility. It's a shame but the reality is that it's happening and consumers should all watch this space as it marks the start of a completely new retail industry for Australia.