All that Glitters

It’s trite- but “all that glitters is not gold” has always been a favourite expression of mine regarding the fashion industry.

There is a very common misconception that the fashion industry is exactly that- glitter and gold. Like most things in life, the final image or product is made up of much thought, consideration, changes, and countless processes. Everything looks wonderful from the outside, but very few know about or understand how to navigate the ideation to creation process.

Most of us get into the industry for love of the product, and many young designers have problems facing the business side of the equation. We have a tendency to believe that because this is a creative pursuit that it should be effortless and somewhat above the drudgery of the real world.

Fashion is quite an amazing industry because it has managed to slot itself somewhere between art and the divine, while still being extremely rooted in economic reality. It plays upon the idea that beauty is both temporal and everlasting, and the process of fashion has a circular relationship to time (it looks to the future as well as the past). For such a considered pursuit, one could say both modern and timeless, we may view it as sacred. And what else could bring about the fall of Emperors but knowing that behind it all they are mere mortals?

Fashion was birthed in the 14th Century along with consumer capitalism and then accelerated by the industrial revolution. Originally it is the expression of the modes of the ruling class trickling down, but as society has become more democratic, it now has a bottom up element too. It is therefore both economically and politically telling. As well as an art form, it can therefore be seen as the most modern of pursuits.

It is also the most social. To be fashionable is to be socially conscious and painfully aware. How can one be fashionable without looking to others in the peer group? One cannot be fashionable and stand alone. It is a relational activity, and acutely observational and observable.

However in every sense, fashion is an expression on the intellectual level as well as the economic one. In other words, to be fashionable comes with a price. Our industry is a business, and a $2.4 trillion dollar business at that.

To follow: creating something of beauty, value and relevance takes a myriad of different skills and processes that are firmly grounded in the real world. The behind the scenes faces the reality that fashion is both a pursuit of art, as well as the crucial understanding and internalising that this is also a business.

For those who are entering or operating in the industry, it would be wise to remember that all that glitters is not gold, however with the right systems, it certainly can be perceived as such. As we know, fashion is all about the dream factor, but with a little bit of behind the scenes work, oh what a beautiful dream it can be.

Sources: IFM Paris. McKinsey.