TALK IS CHEAP: Designer Diffusion, Part III

An important message to designers: Stop making cheap clothes.

Allow me to clarify. I am not, nor have I ever been against the production of moderately priced high-fashion. I can appreciate the novelty of Manolo for Payless as much as the next girl, and yes, I'd line up 'round the block at 4 a.m. to get a first look, too. But honestly, I'm not buying that crap.

With names like Jean-Paul Gaultier and Jimmy Choo diving into mass market design, I have to ask: Where does it stop?

I know times are tough and Bergdorf's isn't buying the same way they used to, but can some of these design houses please hold out and hold on to their brand image? Make a few bucks at a discount retailer this year, and next year top tier clients at Sak's and Neiman's aren't going to look twice. Know why? Because the stuff at Target and H&M is shite.

Yes, it's exciting to have bought a new Luella Bartley jacket, but if it costs $30, chances are, it's falling apart in two months. The point of high fashion is quality, and in a recession like the one we're sinking deeper into, it would seem to me that focusing on durability in both manufacturing and style would get the job done much more effectively than selling hoards of mass produced $20 t-shirts in a store where I can also purchase tampons and cereal.

Sonia Rykiel, Zac Posen, Anna Sui...you've hurt me enough. But now the Mulleavy sisters - whose work I've loved since they hit the scene with a collection of just 10 pieces in 2005 - are also hitting up the big red bull's eye this Sunday.

Alas...I guess I'll have to see what all the fuss is about.

Photo credit: Rodarte's first advertisement; Spring 2009.

TALK IS CHEAP: Designer Diffusion, Part II

So I’m psychic. This morning, shortly after I posted the below query on luxury designers dipping their toes into the mass market, Jimmy Choo and H&M announced their own collaboration. The capsule line follows Karl Lagerfeld, Rei Kawakubo and Matthew Williamson (mentioned below), in addition to other H&M diffusion divas, Stella McCartney, Viktor & Rolf, and Roberto Cavalli.

Announcing the news, founder and president of Jimmy Choo, Tamara Mellon said: "We are privileged to be among the fashion greats who have been affiliated with H&M so far, and to be designing a collection appealing to fashion savvy, street smart women, and to be including some great pieces for men, too."

Wait, seriously? You’re excited to be among the fashion greats? There was a point in time when innovation meant something in this industry – think Marc Jacobs spring of 1992 – he was such a pioneer! Now fashion conglomerates are just happy to be jumping on a bandwagon that, although financially successful for their predecessors, may seriously cut into their ongoing brand and value perception.

Perhaps I’m getting too heavy here. I just worry about what this spiral into a two-tiered fashion system will do to the industry long term. Still, maybe there is something to all of this… I am still completely tickled at the prospect of owning my own pair of Jimmy Choo for H&M shoes. Think they’ll do a cheap-o version of these?

Photo credit: Photographer Terry Richardson for Jimmy Choo adversitement, Fall 2008-Winter 2009.