Fresh look: Young designers about the future of fashion
If in the last century, buyers watched with bated breath what designers are inventing, and very worried about the outdated length of the skirt, today the alignment of forces has changed. In our present, under the motto “Fashionably Everything”, brands already try to guess what the buyer wants in a year or two. Brands closely cooperate with research agencies, update their positioning, massively changing the former art directors for fresh blood, offering 6-8 collections a year - if only the consumer was satisfied, and sales grew.
It is not surprising that in such an unstable reality, built on the endless transformation of old forms into new ones, the brands look with caution and interest into a foggy future. The new exhibition of the Institute of Costume, which is overseen by Anna Wintour, is devoted to the development of industry and technology in fashion. cupboards nothing drastically changes the past few decades.
While grand brands are engaged in attracting younger audiences and third-party projects at the intersection of art and high technology, young talented designers are gaining a more distinct independent voice, especially bright against the background of similar things. These guys will have to work in the new realities of the industry, whatever they may be. We asked young designers how they represent the fashion of the future and what their own brands will be.
Noa Raviv ↑
I think that in the future the mass market will become the consumer’s favorite clothing, and the border of the suite will be blurred: the so-called simple things that we usually see in low-cost stores will be able to turn into luxury and vice versa. In this case, much depends on the strength of marketing, on building a clear marketing strategy. I think the point is that the suite no longer needs innovative ideas. One is enough, on which the brand concept will be built, and an obligatory goal is to offer products of the highest possible quality, and this requires, in fact, only large cash investments. The mass market, which is already trying to do something like an “affordable suite,” will be striving for this bar - I'm talking about COS, & Other Stories and other similar brands.
The concept of "reasonable consumption", which everyone is talking about now, cannot, in my opinion, change the fashion industry. There will be no revolution on this basis: today the need for fashion, for clothes is of an ordinary nature - people need simple, “ordinary” things that are simple to wear, which are comfortable and that reflect the lifestyle. In this approach, and so is not very much redundant.
I think that, taking into account what is happening in the industry today, in a few years those young brands that will manage to build a real development strategy will survive. Of course, you need to do what you dream about, each has its own path, and so on, but we must not forget that any brand must stand on a clear foundation. This foundation includes sales, brand identity, its recognition and the ability to build a dialogue with the consumer. If there is no such bridge to the consumer, it means that strategically there is no point in the existence of a brand, despite all the creativity and money invested in the brand.
Already, I see how technology is changing the familiar look of clothes: in the same Dover Street Market there are rubber t-shirts, plastic shoes. New developments appear with great speed, and designers are trying to keep up with them. Most likely, they will continue to be interested in 3D printing and will experiment with unusual textures, for example, with the effect of engraving, wood imitation surface, and others. I think that experiments will continue with LEDs, which are already often used in the fashion industry. Our brand is also open to new technologies, the main thing here is to find the right approach to the implementation of ideas. The fact is that new developments are an expensive pleasure, plus high-tech fabrics are very difficult to put into production.
ZDDZ ↑
I believe that the designer suffering is always a plus. Therefore, the more complex the situation, say, in our country, the more creative people become here, and in all spheres. When you do not have the opportunity to use the best fabrics and so on, you begin to think about how to use what you have, so new ideas are born. Therefore, the economic crisis in Russia, in my opinion, can provoke a creative rise. Plus, prices for Russian production fell slightly. It sounds strange, but it seems to me that what is happening now in the future may be a blessing for young domestic brands.
The problem of the future of Russian novice brands is, rather, not in the general state of the economy, but in the fact that so far almost no one can offer a decent final product. Here you look at the lookbook - and the clothes look good, seriously. You come to the store - and it turns out that this is all some kind of handicraft production, very poorly executed. Therefore, it is difficult to say who will work in 10-15 years - there are few brands that even now understand what they are doing and why. Here at Alexander Terekhov everything will be in order: this brand has a very clear niche, individuality, and an established business. Maybe even A.W.A.K.E.
If we talk about a more global future of clothing in general, then all sorts of technologies like "print yourself a shirt on a printer" can be quite widespread. There are also these sprays that allow you to choose the color of things yourself. Although I do not know - people are always led to the beautiful, which means that the buyer will always look for something ready-made outside. There will be technologies, there will be opportunities that allow the consumer to participate in the process of creating their own clothes, but we are all focused on finding something initially aesthetically attractive, and this emotional moment will not go anywhere in a few years.
And then everything changes very slowly. In the eighty-second year in "Blade Runner" we were shown a postapocalyptic future and people in futuristic clothes, and now we live in this future - and almost nothing has changed in these thirty years. In five years, no one will walk in the electrodes, which will build clothes around the person on the go. I do not think at all that some kind of technological revolution will take place in the near future.
It is interesting to me to use fabrics that were not there a few years ago, but I wouldn’t stress it. In addition, I like it when futuristic materials look nostalgic - for example, in our new collection there are down jackets from a very unusual fabric, but they evoke associations with the "Matrix". ZDDZ is the digestion of my experience, my youth and putting it in a modern context. I would like my mark to continue to exist after many years, even if I am not in it and my whole team will change.
I think the sales schemes will really change - it's no accident that designers change the schedule of impressions, try to abandon seasonality. Now the model, when you see shoes that can be bought only in six months, stops working: everything is too fast, and in six months no one will remember these shoes. We also want to move away from this scheme, make more small capsules, strive for independence from the selection of buyers, develop our online store. Well, then, seasonality is a deadly topic: right now there are different seasons in different parts of the world, and Chinese buyers, say, do not buy down jackets from winter collections, because they don’t need them - they have warmth.
Kim Shui
It seems to me that a change in the polarization of the mass market and luxury is happening now. Or rather, inexpensive large brands are still working in the usual way - and successfully, but the suite is gradually losing its reference to the age and more adult audience. There is a reassessment of attitudes towards premium brands in the modern context, and this is important for me personally, including: the experience that a suite can offer to buyers is becoming increasingly important. Now expensive things are not just things, but a story. These are individuality, high technology and new materials that you use, these are people who wear branded clothing (including celebrities). The focus is shifting.
In addition, the number of things as such is depreciated: people live in clothes, they should not be infinitely many. It seems to me that consumers have begun to buy much more thoughtfully. When something becomes too much, what is the value of this thing? What to pay if there are a lot of people around who have the same thing? This is a mass market. I think this problem will somehow be solved at the production level.
Now we live in conditions of total surplus of everything: a lot of new brands, new creative directors, new trends, new things. Seasons change very, very quickly, and one collection does not have time to replace the other. I think this will change in the future, because nobody needs just such a quantity of clothes - it cannot be sold. Probably, the rejection of demi-season collections can help a little to improve the situation. The Fall-Winter 2016 collection is my first ready-to-wear collection, but now I think that two full-fledged collections a year are enough. Extra capsules are possible, but not more.
It seems to me that those young brands who build their strategy as clearly as possible have a future. They should think for several years ahead, and not live for today, painstakingly build their history. This is much more important than doing individual "star" things, whose popularity does not last longer than several seasons. You need to get your voice, and then your story will last and last.
I think in the future, 3D printing will be increasingly developed within the framework of the fashion industry. Personally, I like to combine new technological developments with more traditional materials: for example, I have jackets with an unusual treatment on the back, and in the front they are quite classic. But in general, I believe that the creation of new materials, their introduction into production is a very important moment for the industry. He pushes her forward.
Uniqlo x Lemaire ↑
The fact that I am from Ukraine is unlikely to affect the further development of my brand: there is no such moment that this fact would hit. On the one hand, the purchase of collections goes to the euro, and it has grown, so this is a plus. On the other - we also buy fabrics in euros, and they have become more expensive. Somewhere we lose, somewhere we win, but the main sales still do not go on the territory of Ukraine. Therefore, I do not think that the situation in the country will affect my or any other brand. We do not have powerful textile factories, for example, which produced high-quality fabrics, and then were destroyed. With light industry, there were always problems, and even before recent events it was almost impossible to find, say, good designers or cutters. Now in Ukraine I have only production.
To be confident in your future, from whatever country you are, you need to clearly understand what your brand is doing. Now everything is so secondary that it is difficult to even do the right research to at least try to do something new, so it is especially important to think through the concept. For example, we are now engaged in gathering congenial people, promoting the idea not "Anton Belinsky - designer", but "Anton Belinskiy - brand". I would like to get a really big story, not just about clothes. But it is difficult. More specifically, we, of course, plan sales, plan production, but this can only be planned approximately.
You just have to work. I see no reason to be sprayed, to produce collections, rulers, and so on. In any collection there are conditional T-shirts that are easy to make and sell, there are show pieces that will appear on the set and will be remembered the most. As a designer, I would like not to think about it, but I understand that this is impossible. Therefore, I reckon with sales figures - for example, in the latest collection there were more than some basic things. The creator of the brand, especially the young brand, should try to find a common language with its sales department.
It seems to me that new technologies are a super-promising area. Look at least at sports brands that focus almost exclusively on the development of their laboratories now. And these are not some strange things for the elect - everyone already wears them, buys everything, everyone likes them. This is hardly a story about fashion, but I think that on this basis a lot of interesting collaborations may arise. There will be some kind of mix between fashion and high-tech.
Plus and minus the prospects of today's industry is that everything is possible. Designers try different formats, materials, develop new markets. But people are tired of clothes, of complex aesthetics. This is partly why such a rise is experienced by brands like Uniqlo - everyone wants simplicity. I myself wear things that are convenient for me: right now I’m wearing a simple T-shirt and a jogging jacket. This, by the way, does not in the least contradict what I make clothes in my aesthetics, or someone else does it.
Despite the general trend, you must declare yourself, tell your story, show that there is not only bears and vodka in Ukraine and Russia, but also something else. Fashion is not only things - this statement, and this aspect is very important, no one has canceled it and will not cancel it in the future. It’s impossible for the whole world to think that we have a war, and you have vodka. But the main question is whether this statement will be so powerful as to remain relevant for some time. I'm not even talking about the years - at least in 3-4 seasons.
Vetements ↑
From the point of view of business and commerce, the blurring of the concepts of "luxury" and "mass market" is already happening, and it began a long time ago: luxury brands enter the mass market segment through collaborations, second lines and niche collections. However, in terms of brand positioning, the segmentation will remain: there will be both the middle segment and the lower one. It’s just that in the suite you can now meet brands that are inspired not only by the aesthetics of luxury and elitism, but also by cultures that have never penetrated into the world of fashion: skater, punk, asocial and marginal. This, in our opinion, is the achievement of modern fashion, its democratization in terms of style, inspiration.
Brands like Vetements, Gosha Rubchinskiy, Nazir Mazhar, and, hopefully, ours can be in a high segment, but inspired by street, underground cultures. We live in the epoch of revolution not only in fashion, but also in culture as a whole. When it was still possible to make a show in the church so that the model would go in clothes with a "Fucking Asshole" print?
Now in Europe they began to consume more restrained, the concept of environmental friendliness and sustainable development has its influence in many Western countries: fashion tends to abandon the use of fur, manufacturability and the use of processed raw materials. But this, rather, belongs to the mass market segment, luxury brands are less oriented towards this. In addition, the Chinese are buying half of the world’s luxurious consumption, and in some countries in Africa and Asia there is no normal consumption at all. So it’s too early to talk about reducing consumption.
What young designers do to stay afloat in current realities is a million dollar question! We are supporters of Chinese philosophy: you have to be like water - rigid and flexible at the same time. Strategies change every few months, and business and culture almost every day. You just have to feel the rhythm and follow it.
With regard to innovative technologies in fashion - they are very cool, something will surely remain, we ourselves are testing some developments and also strive to keep up with new developments. But in Russia there are problems with the industry, so it’s harder to develop it all. At the same time, it should be understood that manufacturability is also a trend: we all had luminous sneakers in childhood, now this trend is simply returning. These are cycles, not a cyborg attack in the fashion world.
We have no feeling of satiety of the market. Yes, there are a lot of designers, a lot of clothes, a lot of factories and fabrics, you can dress the whole planet for a hundred years to come, but few conceptual brands and conceptual stories. People increasingly want to buy not clothes "from couturier", but concepts that reflect them. That is why brands with philosophy are so popular, for example, the same Vetements and Rubchinsky. And, by the way, it is significant that both the inspiring designer are from the post-Soviet space. This conceptual lyricism, which sits so deeply in our culture, literature, painting and music, is now breaking through in fashion. They capture the attention of people, if not the quality of fabrics and a unique cut, then an irrepressible poetic desire to tell the world about their philosophy, expressed even more in style than clothes.
Photo: Noa Raviv, ZDDZ, Kim Shui, Uniqlo and Lemaire, KM20