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Not So Haute Nicole Tripodis
Every decade has its defining mark in the world of women’s fashion: the color-blocked ‘60s, the shoulder padded ‘80s, and the Ed Hardy abyss known as the 2000s. Now, at the tail end of the 2010s, fashion experts and consumers are still having trouble making sense of the past eight years. Never before has a decade been so vague or hard to grasp. Fashion’s current ambiguity stems from one major factor: the widespread use of the Internet. Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth in the ‘80s, women were only told what to wear from the brands themselves. Exposure to fashion was solely through magazines and celebrities on TV. Today, with the use of the Internet, the amount of resources for fashion inspiration is unlimited. Fashion bloggers are no longer the only online influencers when it comes to style; anyone can make their mark by showing outfits on social media to thousands of their followers. People can see how celebrities are dressing in their downtime, or what their friends are wearing on a night out. This new window of inspiration makes good style a lot more achievable for most young people who cannot afford couture brands anyway. Although the top couture brands still rule the industry, consumers aren’t confined to them and what they declare is “in” or “out.” With independence in fashion, there is a much larger conversation at hand; why should people even care about haute couture anymore?
This attitude among our generation has been notably affecting the industry. The top couture houses have never seen such low sales since their founding days around the turn of the 20th century. Growing up with all knowledge at our fingertips, our generation is more informed, open-minded, and prudent. Not only does this give us more inspiration and creativity, but it gives us more of a voice in fashion. With social media opening the world to us, we have access to information that was never publicized in the past. We don’t want to support an industry that discriminates against people based on their appearance, or uses cruel methods to make clothes.
A big issue with this is that designers today are making their clothes for us, informed, openminded young people, and not for the older generations who went through life not knowing about the faults of the industry. Collections are designed with young people in mind, but because their target audience grew up in a world with information so easily accessible, it seems to be only a matter of time before couture houses meet their fate. Is this a bad thing though? Not necessarily, because it means that the fashion industry will start to shift its focus for the better. Superficiality is no longer at the foundation, but rather diversity, inclusivity, and ethics. Top brands like Gucci and Calvin Klein have already begun embracing these attitudes by recently producing clothing with faux fur — something previously unheard of in luxury fashion. Gone are the days of skinning animals for coats and belaboring foreign countries to make them with little to no pay. Gone is the domination of thin, white women on every runway and advertisement. Gone is the status quo and the iconic trend of the decade. Our generation is revamping the fashion industry for everyone, and it’s about time.