How do you disrupt fashion? I'm not talking about chain store fashion – the Zaras and H&Ms of the world – but the exclusive world of designer prêt-à-porter. Usually the system works like this: the designers present their latest collections to an elite group of journalists and department store buyers in a closed room. The skinny models parade up and down, the cameras flash. When they get home, the buyers place their orders. Six months later, the clothes appear in stores.
But that world is changing. Now, designers want to show their collections to a wider public, by streaming their runway shows on the Internet. This is fine, except the public still have to wait six months to buy the clothes. Unless they buy the cheap copies that appear in chain stores much earlier. You see the flaw in the system?
Two designers have found different solutions. Burberry's Christopher Bailey has shortened the production cycle, so that the clothes on the runway are available in stores right away. Viewers watching on the Internet can order with their credit cards. Meanwhile, Tom Ford has gone in the opposite direction. He has banned photographers from his show and snubbed the Net. Result: mystery and desire, the keys to luxury.
These are the two ways to go. Anything in between is a compromise. And so last season, darling.
