Dressful

With last week's news of Anna Dello Russo designing an accessories collection for H&M and revival of the brand Elsa Schiaparelli, I've been asking myself what is rotten in the fashion industry that the most exciting designers seem to be non-designers and dead designers.

Anna Dello Russo for H&M

I.
When the press release announcing the collaboration between Anna Dello Russo and H&M landed in my inbox, my initial thought was that these collaborations are getting old. While I had anticipated a number of them in the past with curiosity and enthusiasm, they no longer feel as exclusive and special because there is no space to breathe between one collaboration and the next. Once the hype in the media and online has subsided, you just know there's going to be a new collaboration tugging at your subconscious consumerist strings very soon. This cyclic course should really be linear because the way to progress is innovation, not repetition.

Though this is of little concern to H&M as their marketing strategy is collaborating with big fashion names – not even necessarily designers – to bring in tons of money, I would be infinitely more excited about high street brands employing young, emerging designers. It would reintroduce suspense and freshness, two elements almost all previous H&M collaborations have lacked (if you're familiar with the designer's signature style, you have a good grip of what the collaboration will be like) and contribute towards a less self-obsessed fashion industry.

Elsa Schiaparelli hats

II.
While H&M's decision to collaborate with Anna Dello Russo makes perfect sense in terms of appeasing the evergrowing online crowd of fashion bloggers, readers and commentators, the news about the revival of Schiaparelli took me by surprise. Diego Della Valle, CEO of Tod's, plans to open Maison Schiaparelli in Paris during menswear fashion week in June. His statement that "we won't be chasing the commercialism of the fashion world: this is a project that aims for the best in terms of taste and quality, and will provide all the calm necessary to achieve that" (source) indicates a possible radical shift in the brand's vision and aesthetic, much like revived Balmain. Elsa Schiaparelli was anything but toned down with her claw gloves, trompe l'oeil designs, walloping headpieces and lobster dresses. If she were alive today, her number one customer would be Anna Dello Russo!

The aim of the old-new brand is to revisit Elsa Schiaparelli's ideas in a contemporary style. Has fashion really become so dull that nobody has their own ideas? I don't think so. Besides, Schiaparelli's ideas were revolutionary in that moment in time. They would not have the same effect today, no matter how skillfully appropriated and turned inside out. It was easier to stand out in the 1930s than during reign of singers wearing raw meat to get attention.

III.
Refusing to employ new talent and ideas in the fashion industry is an enormous and deliberate waste of creative potential. As a creative person, you can achieve a lot by self-initiative, but you improve the most when you have to meet increasing demands that do not depend entirely on yourself.

The fashion industry is increasing its demands everywhere but in creativity.

I miss the times when fashion
was about clothes,
not who got fired.

Post title inspired by Stylebizarre.

If you're seriously into fashion, I bet my left arm people who feel more passionate about seemingly less ephemeral things have asked you more than once why of all things on this Earth the subject of your passion is fashion. Fashion is trivial, there are other things much more important than clothes and models and magazines, can't you find something more important to do in life?

Daphne Guinness, Anna Wintour and Karl Lagerfeld: Three people who live for fashion

Yes, fashion is vain, it cannot be anything else but vain because it focuses almost solely on appearance, making it ever so easy to reach prejudiced conclusions about us who have at one point in our lives realized fashion is it, accelerates our heartbeat and gives us that sense of belonging we yearn for so much, just like someone else decides to devote their life to helping others and become a doctor. We all have to find that one thing that makes us feel complete.

In fashion, bloggers often face prejudices because there are still many fashion people (gatekeepers) out there who believe we, mostly lacking formal fashion education and industry experience, don't know enough about fashion to comment on it, that we get too much attention (and, ultimately, business deals and $$$, which I guess hurts the most) for the "fluff" and narcissism we share with the world. They judge us personally for it - judge us on the basis of our fashion blogs. Ridiculous.

It's not just fashion people, though. People in general are often unable to make the distinction between our complete personality and what we choose to share online.

Whenever I find myself in the midst of such a scenario with someone, I can only say:

I am not my blog.

Fashion is a huge part of my life, but it's not the only thing I'm interested in. When I meet someone who knows me from the blog, they're mostly very surprised I'm studying literature and not something fashion-related (my fancy literature degree will come in real handy in 2 years when I'll be getting a fashion journalism MA in London though). Apart from fashion and blogging, I also like to see my friends, travel, go to classical music concerts, dabble in photography etc.

Before I became a fashion blogger, I wanted to be a film director (since I was 13) and spent some time studying filmmaking in NYC in 2008. I also played the violin from age 6 to 17, most of that time we all thought I'd go on to study it at uni and become a professional musician. I did competitions and concerts and who knows, maybe I'd still be on that path today if it weren't for my left shoulder that was constantly in pain. All this (and more) is a part of my life and personality, not only fashion.

Another common misconception people have about me as a fashion blogger is that I won't like them because they don't care about fashion or dress fashionably. There are instances when I too care less about fashion or don't dress fashionably, and I'm sure the same goes for every other fashion blogger because - to answer the question in the title of this post - we do care about other things than clothes too.

Our interest in fashion, although fashion might be what we're the most passionate about, doesn't automatically mean we think fashion is the only important thing in the world. Recently the fashion blogging community responded to the events in Japan by organizing For Japan With Love, which raised a ton of money. Here's the catch: FJWL is a public call to action that everyone can see. How many bloggers helped Japan, only they never mentioned it online? We'll never know.

This is one of many examples illustrating you can't know what someone is really like solely from their online presence. If not before, you're bound to reach the same conclusion when you meet your favorite fashion blogger in person. Chances are we're going to talk about everything but fashion!

Carolina Herrera, Pre-Fall 2011

The problem with Pre-Fall 2011 is that you want to wear these clothes now. Ironically, when the time comes for them to be worn, they'll already be out of fashion. We'll be mad about Fall/Winter 2011/2012 then, just like Pre-Fall 2011 has now replaced Spring/Summer 2011. Did I mention that officially we haven't even plunged into winter 2010 yet?

What is the point of releasing collections so far in advance? It's "to allow the press and buyers a chance to preview fashion designs for the following season. [...] also to allow time for retailers to arrange to purchase or incorporate the designers into their retail marketing." (Wikipedia)

In essence, this is the only way the fashion industry can work. It can't be changed unless you establish a completely different system (which I think will happen at some point, but not very soon).

I fit into the current system as a fashion blogger, but not as a consumer.

I like writing about Fall/Winter collections in spring (just after they've been released) because I'm excited about the clothes, concepts and inspirations. Waiting to cover F/W collections until it actually gets cold would bore me. However, I feel that thinking about what I'll wear next fall and winter when we're just getting out of winter is a little too much. It doesn't allow you to fully focus on the present.

Then again, maybe I'm just old-fashioned (pun intended).