Fashion Industry 101: How do visionaries make money & influence things?

May 2, 2017 2:41 PM

I don’t understand thing 1 about influence in high fashion or how such companies make money. So while I’ve been aware that Rei Kawakubo is a “visionary”, I’ve never knowingly seen anything in my daily life that could be considered influenced by her. Is this wrong? How is that influence felt? Further, how do the economics of this influence work? How many Kawakubo outfits must Comme Des Garçons sell to break even? How many outfits in general must Comme Des Garçons sell in order to break even?
posted by Going To Maine to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (8 answers total)

Best answer: A lot of the really cray stuff worn on the runway might not even make it to production—there will typically be more moderate and, well, wearable pieces produced of which many more are likely to be sold (or, there will be a more moderate line, as lalex mentioned too). Though I did once see someone wearing a truly nutso outfit that I assume was CdG at a boutique in LA. These, for instance, are a lot more moderate than the CdG pieces being worn at the Met gala. (Also, those belong to a sub-line, of which CdG has many.)

A lot of the influence is felt in design elements that trickle down (trickle-down is a valid theory of influence in aesthetic matters, if not in economics!), not in that you'd see something that looks a lot like something she's made.
posted by kenko at 3:02 PM on May 2, 2017

Best answer: Not to be trite, but this clip from The Devil Wears Prada will probably be enlightening. (TLDR: You have seen things in your daily life influenced by her.)
posted by DarlingBri at 3:22 PM on May 2, 2017 [11 favorites]

Best answer: A fashion designer's runway line is (this is not an exact analogy) like the concept cars that auto companies put on display at car shows, or the concept products exhibited at CES. They set the tone for that season's/year's line, and/or they propose possible directions that fashion could take, and/or they are the products that are available now for only the most exclusive (and wealthy) clientele.

Nordstrom lists four Comme des Garçons product lines that they carry (CdG, CdG Collection, CdG Fragrance, and CdG Girl). That's a lot of merchandise bringing in revenue, and for all I know (since I'm not in the industry) there might be even more product lines that're only available at the higher-end department stores, never mind CdG's self-operated retail fronts.

For every sporty concept car Ford designs and builds for trade press to salivate over at the auto shows, Ford sells thousands of grey-painted subcompacts, hatchbacks, hybrids, pickup trucks, and so on. For every distinctly-draped runway model at a Commes des Garçons show, they sell thousands of dresses, shirts, pants, accessories, and makeup off the rack that will not look out of place at the office or on a dinner date in most major cities.
posted by ardgedee at 3:34 PM on May 2, 2017 [2 favorites]

Best answer: At the Met Gala, everyone noted the avant garde garment worn by his wife but how many people realised that Pharrell's very ordinary plaid shirt/leather jacket/ripped jeans outfit was *also* CdG.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 4:31 PM on May 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

Best answer: how many people realised that Pharrell's very ordinary plaid shirt/leather jacket/ripped jeans outfit was *also* CdG.

Not prominent fashion bloggers Tom and Lorenzo, I can tell you that much, even though his shirt is really pretty crazy if you look closely, and his jeans say "REI" on them. /eyeroll

there might be even more product lines

CdG Homme, CdG Homme Plus, CdG Shirt, CdG Parfums, CdG Play, and more, plus there are lots of other designers that have been given lines under the CdG umbrella—Junya Watanabe is maybe the best known.
posted by kenko at 5:05 PM on May 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

Well, the link I posted was to their website and they did credit his outfit to CdG so presumably they knew at some point; they mostly dinged him for not wearing "something interesting".
posted by TWinbrook8 at 6:45 PM on May 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

Ah, I didn't see the credit, just "For all we know, he could be wearing a pair of Commes des Garcons jeans and a jacket." which doesn't exactly suggest that they know. Also, I think they're really underplaying that shirt. (Admittedly, it's all much more normal than anything she's wearing.)
posted by kenko at 7:04 PM on May 2, 2017

Most of it comes from Play, which is mostly denim and polos with the logo.
posted by PinkMoose at 7:15 PM on May 2, 2017