For designers, recession has a big silver lining – it’s actually an opportunity to be more fabulous than ever.
“These designers and their creativity offer escapism, like the movies did during the Great Depression of the 1930s,” said David Wolfe, creative director at The Doneger Group, a retail buying service. And with more than 144 shows scheduled for Fashion Week, which starts today and centers around the tents in Bryant Park, there will be many variations on the theme.
But not all will be fantastic, Wolfe said. There will be heavy doses of reality from some designers.
“The middle-of-the-road designers, like Marc by Marc Jacobs or DKNY, will show more classics and jeanswear,” he said.
“There’s so much going on with denim – it’s a fail-safe and a fallback.”
And, he added, “it’s not the most expensive fabric in the world.”
“Trends shifted to denim for utilitarian purposes,” agreed Tom Julian, trend analyst at Fallon Worldwide. Also: “Man-made fibers win out at times like this” because of the lower costs.
But the move to conservatism could be a mistake, cautions Ed Burstell, vice president at Henri Bendel: “The tendency for designers in bad economic times is to go really commercial. The only thing people want to buy when times are tight are things that are off the beaten track.”
Another fashion trend in bad economic times is hemlines – they go up when the markets go down.
Consumers have to have a reason to buy, he said. “They look for that sense of purpose – its own point of view. That’s what is so appealing about young designers.”
Henri Bendel has turned its business around in the last couple of seasons by concentrating its efforts on selling young designers and items that are exclusive to Bendel’s instead of stocking basics and private label merchandise.
“With younger, newer designers, you still see what their vision is,” Burstell continued. “Their businesses are not as big and in jeopardy. They build on novelty.
“Bigger designers have a lot more to lose,” he concluded.
“Young designers are in a dangerous position. Stores aren’t willing to gamble [on an unproven brand].”