Fashion Sells Hit Singles
It has been an interesting spring runway season to say the least. The big designer debuts that everyone was waiting for have been rather subdued (my post from last month, Spring 2024 Designer Watch, detailed the most interesting designer firsts this season). Peter Do’s collection for Helmut Lang surprisingly missed the mark of capturing Lang’s ability to distill his minimalist, deconstructive, but refined aesthetic into clothing that felt modern and relevant, while Peter Hawkings at Tom Ford, Sabato De Sarno at Gucci and Simone Bellotti at Bally all had respectable debuts, if not uninspiring ones (hopefully these designers will gain confidence as they settle into their respective roles).
But what has become increasingly obvious looking at the runway shows this season is that we are seeing what I call the iTune-ization of fashion becoming more prevalent. Just like the music industry moved from marketing albums to selling singles with the introduction of Napster and iTunes, now fashion is pursuing the same business strategy of selling single items rather than a complete look for the season.
There are brands who have always excelled at pushing items in their collections – usually accessories – while still adhering to an overarching theme: Chanel (always), Saint Laurent under Anthony Vaccarrello, and Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Dior. The flip side to this approach is Jonathan Anderson, a designer who has never been interested in a runway narrative. However, what Anderson does understand is the need to limit the ideas he presents in a collection to make his process work for the audience (the power of editing).
However, now we have more designers presenting runway shows that push single products without any coherent creative vision. Brands as diverse as Antonio Marras, The Attico, and Etro featured shows crammed with products and design ideas without any real storytelling. And with no narrative, the visual experience of a show feels disjointed and random – there’s no rhythm, no sense of vision or distinct point of view. The audience could literally be looking at clothing from any designer because there’s no intrinsic connection to the brand.
This is the issue Daniel Lee is facing at Burberry, a brand in desperate need of a turnaround. Lee had much success with the singles approach at Bottega Veneta because his design instincts were in sync with Bottega’s quiet luxury clients. Lee’s reset was an update of the Bottega brand without being a complete break with the minimalist aesthetic established by Tomas Maier. However, Burberry has been adrift since Christopher Bailey left in 2019, and seems no closer to solidifying its place in the world of luxury brands with Lee at the helm. Though his collections have been full of ideas, Lee’s vision for Burberry is muddled and makes little sense with the house’s design codes or history.
Rebuilding a brand takes more than just a new font type and logo design, and the bet these designers are making is that individual looks will pop up on social media accounts, so what difference does it make if they present a cohesive show. Yet a singles approach to designing a collection does not provide an audience with the emotional connection necessary to forging a relationship with a brand - an emotional bond that is ultimately what a brand needs to build their business.
Photo courtesy of 360b / Shutterstock
