Dana Thomas Fashion Analysis

This expansion demonstrates how the luxury industry is now run by massive corporations whose focus is only on growth, visibility, brand awareness, advertising, and most importantly, PROFITS! With growth and expansion, has come a decrease in quality and rarity. The luxury garments produced are mostly not handmade but are even outsourced to large factories in places such as China and Turkey. Also, to meet quarterly turnover projections, “designers churn(ed) out increasingly trendy collections of clothes, handbags, and shoes.” (Thomas, Pg. 246) With hundreds of new stores around the globe the surplus of designer labeled merchandise is immense hence, the proliferation of outlet malls.

For years, Louis Vuitton enjoyed high profit margins from the luxury market in Japan until other competitors such as Prada and Gucci entered the market. Counterfeiting also became a threat to the firm’s brand by satisfying consumer demand at lower prices. Other external global environmental problems included highly priced products, limited availability in stores only, and a heavy dependency on the Japanese market (Pearce & Robinson, 2013, p. 14-18). Moreover, “the after-shocks of the global recession were a threat to Louis Vuitton’s luxury business in Japan”, and Japanese women became less interested in the brand’s products (Pearce & Robinson, 2013, p. 14-18). Alternatively, Louis Vuitton could “reinvent itself and regain what used to be its well-attested

Fashion is everything to society and the media. The fashion industry has transformed into a necessity in the life of people. Everyone wants to look good, feel fabulous and feel as if we belong with everyone else. The envy and desire to wear certain things and look a certain way all come, from wearing the latest fashion handbags, accessories, dresses, shoes, and the list goes on. But, when is considering fashion into an individual’s life going too far to the extreme? Many do not consider the whereabouts of fashion materials and how the environment is affected by the mere existence of certain garments. Some may believe these objects grow on trees. But that is clearly not the case. Even though it would be nice. The fashion industry as a

Attention Getter: “These high fashioned brands represent to us (African Americans) success.” (Combs,2015). Reveal topic: High end fashion and the lack of representation and support of black designers/artist from both the black and white audiences. High end fashion: when a major fashion house such as Polo, Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana ,etc. design expensive, fashionable clothes Credibility statement: I became interested in this topic after watching a documentary on the history of urban fashion, but not just that, it also touched on the topics of culture, race, and identity.

Since the founding of Vogue in 1892, its covers and glossy contents have featured the changing faces of fashion, from models and actresses of the era to musicians, writers and businesswomen from all over the world. It is clear that editors of Vogue magazine, published by Condé Nast have understood the changing world of fashion we live in, where the achievements and lives of famous aspirational women began to overshadow the now tiresome , ‘dull’ supermodel era under the instruction of Vogue’s current editor-in-chief , Anna Wintour. Anna Wintour, Vogue’s editor-in –chief, artistic director of Condé Nast and chairwoman of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual Met Gala may be regarded by many as one of the fashion industry’s most influential figures in the world.

The fashion industry is rapidly growing and constantly generating new fashion trends almost weekly. Fashion for some may seem ridiculous and unnecessary; but fashion is not just a meaningless usage of article of clothing or farcical materials sew together for coverage. There is more to fashion than meets the eyes, fashion is precious and significant. It is a reflection of self-image, it speak the ream about who we are and how we review ourselves. Not only is fashion the reflection of self-image but also the reflection of our history as Coco Channel have said, “Fashion is not something that exist in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.” Fashion

There were many tragic occurrences that happened in the 1930s, but the production of fashion would not let anything stop it from becoming more current. The 1930s was the time of the Great Depression, the economic slump that swept the nations. It set people into an economical setting where they had less money to spend on the simple necessities they needed, let alone things they wanted, like clothes. Although, the actuality that people didn’t have money didn’t stop industries from producing their work. Though some people believe fashion was changed in an unfavorable way due to the severe economical situations in the 1930s, the new variety of developing fashion companies, like Vogue, gave women a more modern look, enlightened them with ideas from different cultures, and took ideas from the world’s circumstances and made them into something new.

The 1940s and 1950s allowed fashion designers to explore shapes, textures, and colors, and incorporating these elements of art into their garments. Not only this, the Modernist ideal simplified the mainstream definition of fashion, and threw away the restrictions of what the “typical woman” should look like. Although fashion changes daily, the turn of the twentieth century completely altered the way people worldwide saw the fashion industry. Fashion “functions as an intimate join between body and world, linking individuals” (Parkins 7), and embraces culture throughout the

Fashion does not simply consist of the clothes we pick out of our closets in the morning. That daily decision only constitutes the last step of a much larger process, foreign sweatshops, multi-billion-dollar businesses, celebrities on red carpets, and sophisticated advertising campaigns. Fashion emerges out of pattern-making and design, the cultivation and production of raw materials, the manufacturing process, and the distribution of the finished product. Although all this creates the materials, fashion is more than just cloth and jewels. Fashion is the expression of oneself whether it's based on emotion, fashion trends, or music videos.

Vogue has not only contributed to the acceptance of trends in the fashion and beauty industry, but in addition has become a reward in the changed in cultural thinking, actions and dress of women. Vogue is the world’s most influential fashion magazine, first founded by Kelly Trepkowski, writing on art, culture and politics. Vogue is regularly criticized, along with the fashion industry it writes about, for valuing wealth, social connections, and low body weight over more noble achievements from its

It is hard to imagine that after the financial crisis swept across Europe, many great transitional enterprises had to face collapse and bankrupt while the luxury goods industry become more prosperous. Recently, the French luxury goods group LVMH announced their recent business condition. The volume of the first week in October had incredibly increased by 12% the previous week. The Hermes Corporation also said that in order to meet the increasing number of market demand, it would open 15 branch stores in the latter half of the year. These aroused some fierce debates, the public held a skeptical opinion towards the questions: How can the luxury companies maintain their positions? Why didn’t they strike down by financial crisis?

Even though it may seem like the problems in the industry are above us, we, the consumers, actually created them. Lucy Siegle, a journalist and author based in the UK, was interviewed in a film, dedicated to the flaws in the fashion industry, called The True

Similar to another one of my sources, this book also gives illustrations as well as information on fashion styles, well known fashion events and movements, as well as notable designers of the 20th and 21st centuries. It also gives us a perception of the social influences of fashion. Along with that, it brings about the commercial side of the fashion industry, but my focus on that will be about how certain brands came to be. It provides information about how certain fashion trends went from the catwalk, to the sidewalk. This ties down and goes back to the idea about how fashion trends evolved or become a movement.

At the apex of the market was haute couture with it very high-end “custom” product offering that catered to the extremely wealthy. Luxury goods manufacturers believed diffusion brand’s lower profit margins were offset by the opportunity for increased sales volume and the growing size of the accessible luxury market and protected margins on such products by sourcing production to low-wage countries. Eye-catching utilization of their products by prominent figures in society leads to increasing demands for luxury good items and it is a growing industry with the global luxury goods market growing 9% per year. These consumers buy their products for satisfaction and to boost their self-esteem rather than for ease or comfort. All these components blend in the context of a successful business of the luxury goods.

Fashion has been around ever since ancient times, since the time of the Romans, it survived the world wars and is yet today a business with rapid changes. Fashion started off as an art form, a way for the riches to show their social status with unique and innovative designs that only they could afford. It was a way to separate the social classes of the society. In this paper I will include the creator of haute couture, and how the following designers developed couture, as well as having leading names in today’s ready-to-wear industry. The list is long, but I chose to focus on the three most important designers of the modern fashion industry.