October News Roundup

Too busy to keep up with the industry? From Phoebe Philo’s first collection and why the quality of high-end knitwear is terrible to Manolo Blahnik’s new archive project and generative AI, here is what you may have missed in fashion and design news that I thought was worth the read:

For more on the Spring 2024 shows, Wallpaper has a roundup of the most dramatic runway set designs. The magazine’s short takes on several of the biggest shows including Acne’s giant disco ball, Jonathan Anderson’s commissioned sculptures for Loewe, and Prada’s slime “curtains” will give you an idea of just how much time and thought – and money - goes into these runway sets. It would have been nice if the houses themselves gave more in-depth explanations as to why they thought their respective sets worked well with their collections instead of the canned responses quoted in the article, but it is interesting to see the runways as a stand-alone design.

Former Celine designer Phoebe Philo just released her first highly anticipated collection (and several pieces have already sold out). Cathy Horyn wrote a rapturous review of it in New York Magazine’s The Cut, but probably the most interesting piece I’ve read about Philo’s collection came out back in August (yes, before the first drop was even released). Eugene Rabkin’s thought piece on Philo and the luxury sector in general is a cutting look at the empty consumerism central to much of the fashion industry today, as well as the success of major luxury goods brands.

The irony of The Atlantic’s “Your Sweaters Are Garbage” by Amanda Mull is that just a couple of weeks before this story was released, I had met a friend from the fashion world for lunch. During our catch up, we discussed the poor quality of most designer and luxury brands these days. And Mull seems to agree. Her article discusses the issue from the increasing use of manmade fibers and other cost-cutting measures used by companies to increase their bottom line to the need to get product to market at a faster rate. It’s no wonder many of us feel that the industry we love is more smoke and mirrors than ever.

We keep hearing that social media as we know it is over and that brands’ relationships with influencers are entering a new phase (one can always hope…). According to author Meera Navlakha, various small businesses, towns and even travel destinations are outright banning influencers because their attentions can actually hurt a business more than help it. For a while now, I’ve taught in my media class – and many marketing pros have been making this point for years - that unless an influencer is a genuine fit for your brand, collaborating with them can seem at best superficial and at worst show a lack of understanding for your own brand and audience. Click here to find out why the most important consideration for your customer is not showing them endless content generation but rather giving them an uninterrupted experience with you.

I think designer digital archives are hugely important. For young people interested in fashion living in rural areas or in cities without access to top-tier museums and directional independent boutiques, the digital experience gives them the opportunity to gain insight to fashion craftsmanship and design. It’s just one reason why Manolo Blahnik’s latest project is so important. Blanhink took on the enormous task of creating an online archive of his work ranging from sketches, inspiration images, and photographs to film shorts of artisans at his factory in Milan shaving shoe lasts and shaping heels. Read all about the project here and take a tour of the site here.

Generative AI has been gaining a considerable level of scrutiny from both the public and governments around the world and for good reason. Generative AI is any algorithm that can be used to create new content, including audio, code, images, text, simulations, and videos, by learning the patterns and structure of their input training data and then generating new data that has similar characteristics. Whether it’s false news images, a fake conversation, or a ChatGPT-generated article, people are increasingly questioning exactly what they are looking at and reading (or they should be). Because generative AI can spit out content to whatever specifications a user requests and at such a high rate, creatives especially are in fear their jobs will disappear over the next five to ten years. They are also concerned about if and how their work is being used for data scraping and aggregating. The moral and ethical challenges surrounding this topic are immense and while I am just starting to educate myself on it, here are three related stories that give a wide scope of the issues around generative AI:

For an example of how brands are using CGI – which can use generative AI in its creation – check out Marketing Brew’s story on FOOH, short for “Fake Out Of Home” content.

In response to the explosion of AI companies and the unregulated space they operate in, both the EU and President Biden are looking to regulate the industry and make it safe and ethical while still allowing companies to be innovative – a tough balancing act. Click here for an article specifically discussing how the EU is trying to address the issue, and here to read about President Biden’s executive order, which was signed on October 30th.

This one is an honorable mention. If you don’t subscribe to Springwise, consider signing up for their newsletters, as they focus much of their trend coverage on new material technologies. This article is about the launch of Spanish startup Recovo, an online marketplace that connects fashion brands to deadstock material.

Images courtesy of Trismegist san, evrymmnt, and PopTika / Shutterstock