https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/a-lot-of-food-for-thought-in-this-article-fashion-is-old-fashioned Style Advice for Fashion Lovers en-US Sat, 25 Apr 2026 01:34:00 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/search.php https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/a-lot-of-food-for-thought-in-this-article-fashion-is-old-fashioned#post-1840975 Wed, 30 Aug 2017 11:32:56 +0000 rachylou 1840975@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>It's odd, why the various personalities of today are so unconvincing, Sterling... </p> <p>Denise, such a profound point re all the ideas proffered by the 20th century! I argue with my brother about 'irreversible progress'... he thinks many of them are settled cannon and I disagree. I think the word 'digesting' is right on the money. As a matter of fact, I think folks are at the very beginning of the digestive process... they are chewing and it's not certain at all that they'll swallow. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/a-lot-of-food-for-thought-in-this-article-fashion-is-old-fashioned#post-1840964 Wed, 30 Aug 2017 09:21:00 +0000 Anonymous 1840964@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p><b>Rachylou</b> wrote: &nbsp;<i>The cult of personality is over, since we haven't got any personalities out there. The muses of today strike me as vapid and uninteresting. Undeveloped.</p> <p></i>I could not agree with her more. &nbsp;<i><br /></i> </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/a-lot-of-food-for-thought-in-this-article-fashion-is-old-fashioned#post-1840957 Wed, 30 Aug 2017 06:41:11 +0000 CocoLion 1840957@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Thanks for the article UmmLilla. &nbsp;I miss these kinds of discussions with fellow YLFers. &nbsp;Couldn't agree more with the writer about marketing. &nbsp;</p> <p>In some ways we are still digesting the last half of the 20th century and its great surge towards modernity. &nbsp;When you think of the changes in art, architecture, music, personal lifestyles, sexual freedoms, equal rights, attempts to undo racism, it was tremendous! &nbsp;Could that be why so many of those ideas are being recycled? &nbsp;I also think that the move towards more traditional thinking and politics, as seen by our recent election in the US as well as movements in Britain, is a backlash (whitelash) and a desire to return to tradition.</p> <p>In a similar vein, I think all of the aforementioned changes were a great inspiration to fashion designers. &nbsp;Whereas now, the "revolutions" taking place are in tech, they are economic (disruption, greed), so a really different kind of scene to gather inspiration from.</p> <p> </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/a-lot-of-food-for-thought-in-this-article-fashion-is-old-fashioned#post-1840951 Wed, 30 Aug 2017 04:58:48 +0000 Anonymous 1840951@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I see older people showing lots of individual style but not the young. Retail is changing and customers are getting tired of throw away fashion.<br /> On the other hand it is refreshing not to have to have a certain skirt length or silhouette or color that is a must. Maybe the freedom to show one's individuality is scaring people and they would rather just have to buy the latest "it" item and be done with it. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/a-lot-of-food-for-thought-in-this-article-fashion-is-old-fashioned#post-1840741 Tue, 29 Aug 2017 05:43:53 +0000 rachylou 1840741@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Saw a thing on the news yesterday about stores (in NYC, I think) trying to reinvent the store. One store baked cookies in the store, but it wasn't a cookie shop. Another offered a fitness centre. Quite bizarre... and uninteresting, if you ask me.</p> <p>But here is something interesting... the local H&amp;M has moved to a smaller space. Their offerings have been quite unappealing for quite awhile. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/a-lot-of-food-for-thought-in-this-article-fashion-is-old-fashioned#post-1840729 Tue, 29 Aug 2017 04:21:11 +0000 Lucy 1840729@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I was just about to say what Shevia said! Tats, piercings and other body mods are not "clothing", but they certainly are fashion.&nbsp; </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/a-lot-of-food-for-thought-in-this-article-fashion-is-old-fashioned#post-1840724 Tue, 29 Aug 2017 03:59:03 +0000 Jaime 1840724@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Not sure that less individualism leads to less fashion. Groups tend to dress alike to identify themselves. Tatoos, piercings, etc. are tapping into the same impulse as fashion and are certainly part of style. Concern for waste and exploitation will lead to different fashion not the lack of fashion. As for fashion recycling old ideas, haha, there is nothing new under the sun and that is not new either. <br />But I do think old fashioned advertising and retail are going through an major evolution. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/a-lot-of-food-for-thought-in-this-article-fashion-is-old-fashioned#post-1840678 Mon, 28 Aug 2017 23:18:24 +0000 rachylou 1840678@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I think the comment on individualism is intriguing. In a certain regard, I think it's peaking. 'No man is an island.' People would like common ground and then a certain amount of leeway within that. People want to pile in and focus on one thing, but bring their thing to the table in a common endeavour. The cult of personality is over, since we haven't got any personalities out there. The muses of today strike me as vapid and uninteresting. Undeveloped. You know who I love? I love Cara Delvigne. She struggles with meaning and I feel for her. Because she hasn't experienced anything at any depth except modelling. Once upon a time that would have been a ticket to the world. But the whole thing has ossified into a puppy mill process. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/a-lot-of-food-for-thought-in-this-article-fashion-is-old-fashioned#post-1840675 Mon, 28 Aug 2017 22:57:31 +0000 UmmLila (Lisa) 1840675@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I've been reading the current September magazine issues, and some of the advertising I see for major fashion brands is only worthy of an 80s-era Guess ad. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/a-lot-of-food-for-thought-in-this-article-fashion-is-old-fashioned#post-1840670 Mon, 28 Aug 2017 22:32:55 +0000 Anonymous 1840670@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Really interesting - especially the section devoted to marketing and outdated advertising campaigns. &nbsp;Also intrigued by the idea that entire tribes of people are immune to fashion &nbsp;(smiling at the paleo foods reference) and are self-identifying through other things. &nbsp; </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/a-lot-of-food-for-thought-in-this-article-fashion-is-old-fashioned#post-1840662 Mon, 28 Aug 2017 21:59:35 +0000 Carla 1840662@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Another interesting read. I have to agree that magazines fail to inspire like before. I like the idea of dressing to belong, and identifying with a tribe. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/a-lot-of-food-for-thought-in-this-article-fashion-is-old-fashioned#post-1840658 Mon, 28 Aug 2017 21:47:42 +0000 Anonymous 1840658@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>YES! &nbsp;I couldn't not agree more. &nbsp; </p> <p>Not to argue with <b>Thistle</b>, I do feel that I have more choice than ever before in fashion/style. &nbsp;But I don't see individuality being expressed in real life. &nbsp;If anything, I see people conforming more than ever. &nbsp;</p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/a-lot-of-food-for-thought-in-this-article-fashion-is-old-fashioned#post-1840656 Mon, 28 Aug 2017 21:45:33 +0000 Thistle 1840656@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Hmm, interesting ideas. I agree with some, but not all. Like "Individualism is over".</p> <p>I feel like a lot of people are far more individualistic now than ever before. Though, I do agree with the comment "fashion is secondary" and her reasons why.&nbsp; </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/a-lot-of-food-for-thought-in-this-article-fashion-is-old-fashioned#post-1840651 Mon, 28 Aug 2017 21:41:07 +0000 UmmLila (Lisa) 1840651@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>What do you think?</p> <p>&lt;<a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/voices/li-edelkoort-anti-fashion-manifesto-fashion-is-old-fashioned">https://www.businessoffashion......ion-is-old</a>&gt;</p> <p><strong>OXFORDSHIRE,</strong><strong>&nbsp;</strong><strong>United Kingdom</strong><strong>&nbsp;</strong><strong>—</strong>&nbsp;Li Edelkoort, one of the world’s most respected trend forecasters, gave a provocative talk on the VOICES stage, presenting key excerpts from her ‘Anti-Fashion’ manifesto, a critical examination of today’s fashion industry. Edelkoort, who has advised brands like Armani and won the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the French Ministry of Culture, said that, as the wider world has evolved, fashion has lagged behind. “Fashion is old-fashioned,” she said. Yet Edelkoort believes “it’s a truth that can be changed.” Here are some of her thoughts on why the fashion system is broken, and how the industry can catch up with today’s reality and regain its cultural value as a change agent that pushes society forward.</p> <p><strong>Designers are recycling old ideas. </strong>The great designers of the past — like Cristobal Balenciaga and Yves <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.businessoffashion.com/community/companies/saint-laurent">Saint Laurent</a>&nbsp;— all made revolutionary clothes that “changed the way we walk, the way we stand, the way we flirt.” However, many of today’s designers are simply making more and more “garments” — recycling old ideas based on vintage clothes, which continue to “haunt the catwalks.” “These categories of designers are working on clothes and are no longer concerned or interested in change for change’s sake – unanimously declaring newness a thing of the past," Edelkoort explains. “With this lack of conceptual innovation, the world is losing the idea of fashion.”</p> <p><strong>Fashion’s individualism is outdated.</strong>&nbsp;We live in “a society hungry for consensus and altruism — a world where individualism is long over,” said Edelkoort. Yet fashion, with its cult of the creator, still emphasises the individual designer. “Not everyone is going be a star,” said Edelkoort, reading from her manifesto. “[Fashion schools] seem to be oblivious to the new world we live in: a world created for and from interaction, dealing with an economy of exchange and a strong sense of extended family, where working and playing together has become more important than individual gain.”</p> <p><strong>Marketing has taken over, but fashion advertising is obsolete.</strong>&nbsp;Edelkoort blames the evolution of marketing for many of fashion’s current woes. “It is, without doubt, the perversion of marketing that ultimately has helped kill the fashion industries. Initially invented to be a science, blending forecasting talent with market results to anchor strategies for the future, it has gradually become a network of fearful guardians of brands, slaves to financial institutions and hostages of shareholder interests, a group that long ago lost the autonomy to direct change,” she said. “Marketing has taken over power within the major companies and is manipulating creation, production, presentation and sales.” And yet fashion’s approach to advertising is obsolete. “The ad agencies still think we can do with one image, one campaign, for one season. But we see everyone else reading, texting, watching... we are consuming five to six pictures at the same time. The current advertising method doesn’t belong in our time,” said Edelkoort.</p> <div></div> <p><strong>Low prices are enslaving workers and destroying cultural value.</strong>&nbsp;“The manufacturing of clothes has gone through a rapid and sordid restructuring process, which has seen production leave the western world to profit from and exploit low-income countries,” said Edelkoort. “How can a product that needs to be sown, grown, harvested, combed, spun, knitted, cut and stitched, finished, printed, labelled, packaged and transported cost a couple of Euros?” she asked, comparing fashion’s supply chain to slavery. “On the hunt for cheaper deals, volume companies, but also some luxury brands, have trusted the making of their wages to underpaid workers living in dire conditions,” she continued. “What’s more, these prices imply the clothes are to be thrown away, discarded like a condom before being loved and savoured, &nbsp;teaching young consumers that fashion has no value. We should make legislation to have minimum prices.”</p> <p><strong>The retail model needs reinventing.</strong>&nbsp;“Everything needs to be reinvented in retail. Everything we do is from the 20th century. Even concept stores and online commerce were from the last moments of the 20th century,” said Edelkoort. “More than often one can overhear visitors of select department stores sigh that there is nothing to be found... the few thousand references patiently waiting on hangers apparently did not register anymore, just like the multitude of yoghurts in our supermarkets fail to attract.” Yet she credited Dover Street Market’s approach with “very well edited, very well presented, very focused offerings,” as a retail model appropriate for our time.</p> <p><strong>For today’s consumers, fashion is secondary.</strong>&nbsp;“Today, people are expressing themselves in a number of ways (hair colour, tattoos, jewellery) that are not traditionally thought of as fashion. There are also growing tribes of people who don’t care about fashion. For example, the tech crowd in Silicon Valley," said Edelkoort. “Fashion is not a mission amongst these nerds and their degree of coolness is obtained by loose slogan T-shirts, smart objects, paleo foods and indie music. Fashion has lost these consumers over the last twenty years and will not be able to get them back.”</p> </p>