Issue 1: Do Trends Still Exist?

Last Wednesday, September 9th, Vanessa Friedman, the Fashion Director and Chief Fashion Critic for the New York Times held a webinar called How Fashion is Meeting the Moment. She explored the global state of fashion with industry leaders Antoine Arnault, C.E.O. of Berluti; Gwyneth Paltrow of goop; Off-White and Louis Vuitton menswear designer Virgil Abloh; and designer Tory Burch. I signed on at 7AM PDT and was there to hear it all! It was a major high for me as these are people that I look to for information daily to help figure out what’s going on in the world of fashion and trends.

Vanessa asked everyone one of the hardest questions right off the bat, “Do trends still exist?” The answer came back as a resounding “YES!” from every one. However, as with all of us, the reason they think that was very personal to each. Virgil Abloh (VA) said “yes, because of social media, trends were very much alive.” Gwyneth Paltrow (GP) said “yes, her sixteen-year-old daughter was definitely showing her how much trends were still a big deal.” And Tory Burch (TB) said “yes, trends are alive but they are now very personal.” She spoke to the fact that we don’t have the habit anymore of changing out our closets between Summer and Winter anymore – that that isn’t modern. Today she is seeing that women are dressing for themselves, not seasonally. Antoine Arnault (AA) added to that statement that there were also market realities, where trends such as seasonality do matter and for his brands and going entirely seasonless may not be appropriate.

They touched on the important question of sustainability and if it can still matter with the economic realities of consumers now? To me, AA had the most interesting answer. He said that those questions have already been made. With apparel you have to plan so far in advance – and even further when you are working with sustainable ideas. So, their sustainable initiatives, which they were very much dedicated to – no question – had already been dialed in many months ago and were on track still. TB said that to her company, one of the important sustainable choices they make is to plan their inventory correctly – with as little waste in materials that go into the product as well as not overbuying.

The discussion was so rich – I can’t write about all of the points that peaked my interest today. But in the coming days I’m going to continue to break it down and share it with you. Hearing from industry leaders on topics like these that are so critical to the future of apparel is incredibly important. I’m looking forward to this platform to share these observations with you!