From left to right: Anna Sui Spring 2010, D&G Spring 2010, Marc Jacobs Fall 2009, Giorgio Armani Spring 2010 collection and Chanel spring 2010 collections. (Photo illustration by Christine Blais)
Collections on the runway and the realm of high fashion are frequently associated with an industry of vanity—deemed a frivolous extravagance only attainable to a select few. Despite the seemingly detached quality of high fashion, its covert influence on the average person is very profound—and delving deeper into the circular nature of the industry makes runway fashion’s transcendence hard to ignore.
Retail is heavily, if not wholly, reliant on trends broadcasted by top fashion designers. Although most shoppers are unaware of this, their wardrobes are nonetheless affected by runway trends.
Andy Chitty, emerging stylist and visual merchandiser at Urban Outfitters, said aside from their clientele, retail companies have their own designers and a visual team whose job is to interpret current fashion trends.
“Corporate merchandisers’ job is to do trend reports—they look to the runway to see what is on trend and what consumers are looking for,” he said. “They then manipulate these trends using things like cheaper fabrics that make them more affordable to the masses. For example, the boyfriend blazer started with Yves St.Laurent in the Spring 2008 collection, along with Stella McCartney’s 2008 designs.”
Chitty said the blazer then began appearing in the fall 2008 collection and higher-end boutique-like stores. It was eventually picked up by department stores like the Bay, finally ending its retail journey.
“The boyfriend blazer was a successful and prominent trend because it was a fun concept—even the name ‘boyfriend’ came from the runway,” Chitty said. “It is easily adopted because it’s a fun and practical design that flatters most body types. Most people are unaware that it came from Yves St. Laurent or Stella McCartney, let alone which collection.”
Chitty said the fashion industry is often misinterpreted as vain and impractical.
“Good clothes come from designers,” he said. “Fashion is considered vain because it is represented as inaccessible.”
Many consider fashion a business as well as an art form, he said.
“Designs, like art, are reworked, passed along—it’s a circular cycle. Trends begin on the runways. There always seems to be a dominant trend each season amongst the designers. It’s bizarre how it comes about, but it always seems to happen that way. For example, one season a common trend amongst the designers could be androgyny. Retailers will recognize these trends and adopt them into their own house brands.”
Chitty said runway fashion trends are always one season ahead. “You should ask yourself why that is,” he said. “It always happens that when you are in the fall season you will see the spring collection or vice-versa. Aside from the fact that this is a result of the immense process of creating a collection—which most underestimate…in relation to the transcendence of fashion to recognize how high fashion is always one season ahead and thus retailers are always one step behind and are successful in adopting the runway trends accordingly.”
Chitty said there are two worlds of trends—the high fashion world and the retail world.
“Accessible fashion takes its roots from high fashion,” he said. “High fashion directs retail trends. If you take away the source, which is the runway, you have to ask, who are the artists? Who is going to create these trends? The answer is no one. High fashion designers are the source of the transcendence which goes other designers, creators, retailers and distributors.”
Justine Dunk, ArtSci ’09 and a stylist intern at this year’s Toronto Fashion Week—which occured during Oct. 19-24, said fashion trends are much more accessible than in the past. “Fashion week is now accessible on the Internet minutes after the designs are revealed,” she said. “The Internet provides so much access to trends, and I think that has a great influence.
“Retailers like Top Shop, Urban Outfitters and H&M make the designs accessible and affordable—whether people are actively seeking out to replicate runway designs or not, they are still making fashion choices—and that’s what is important to recognize.”
Dunk said people always make fashion choices.
“Even if they are choosing to stray from a trendier style, they are still actively making that choice to do so and therefore are still participating in the fashion industry—fashion is a business, and is a business that is difficult, if not impossible to ignore. The reality is that people need clothes.”
Dunk said that fashion has a circular nature—designers are influenced by popular culture, which is in turn influenced by designers.
“The average person may not look to the runway for fashion trends, but it is difficult to ignore the reality that they are affected by pop culture, blogs, celebrities. People look to celebrities for trends, and celebrities are in a sense a transcendence of runway fashion. Take Jessica Simpson for example.Everyone was obsessed with her Louis Vuitton bag. Celebrities create fashion designers into household names and in so doing they contribute to the circularity of fashion.”
Dunk said Balmain’s stud shoes are just one example of high fashion influence which appeared in many retail locations following their runway debut.
“They even showed up in inconspicuously detached stores like Transit,” she said. “Who would think that Transit would be affected by the high fashion designs of Balmain? But it was—and as a result people are wearing manipulated high fashion designs and most likely doing so unbeknownst to them.”
High fashion is a realm only accessible to a select few, but its effects inevitably trickle down to a myriad of items in window displays of small independent shops and major department stores alike.
By offering affordable clothes with minor stylistic changes—yet preserving the essence of haute couture—retailers have discovered a market that appreciates style and even more importantly, the low price tag that accompanies it.
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