Would you be open to share your trajectory on how you ended up working as a buyer? I've been interested in exploring this aspect of fashion further

100%, since working in the industry I’ve come to see first hand how there is a huge disconnect between what’s actually selling VS what the press like or what is being talked about the most on social media. Sometimes it overlaps but not as often as people might think. There are so many brands that are critically acclaimed but are struggling financially, some of which had to just close down completely. (Peter Do, Craig Green, Raf Simons etc)

Whither Viktor y Wolf? For example

@@FashionRoadman Viktor and Wolf?

⁠@@FashionRoadmanYES!!! Another example would be a Thomas Tait - LVMH Prize winner with so much press and industry support in 2015, also a fave of late Louise Wilson (accdg to a designer I know who was in the same cohort in csm), and yet nothing much has happened to his label. It has been said many, many times, Fashion is a business.

You brought up some really good points thay I left out in my video: I did mention brands not being able to take the same risks as before because they are working with more money and the pressure of shareholders but you mentioned a point about money being tighter now which is so true. Since I’ve been born and I’m literally only 25 years old, this is the 2nd recession I’ve experienced. In general, business is done in a more risk adverse way across the board, the banks are stricter with loans etc so brands just can’t afford to do things that they once could because it could financially decimate a brand if they get it wrong (Gucci might enter this territory if they’re not careful - it’s a brand that’s so big and has so many employees that a major decrease in revenue could be catastrophic considering the 100s of millions of overheads, shipping, bills, wages etc on the brands books)

As for what I've seen and experienced over many decades as a fashion consumer, these days a lot of brands are skating on very thin ice. But, as far as I'm concerned, they've dug their own hole as they continue to throw out ridiculous prices and price increases and many times twice a year. And most of the time, quality and price aren't in sync with each other as far as I'm concerned. Just give me well-designed, avant garde or not, high quality products. Then, I'm a happy camper. I miss the quality of yesteryears. Greetings from Los Angeles@@FashionRoadman

@@d.y.e3803 As the son of a father who used to be a fashion snob in the 80s and 90s I've been really lucky because I've been able to inherit a lot of beautiful garments and compare them directly to what is currently offered by luxury fashion brands. You bring up a good point that they ask ridiculous prices for garments that should last a lifetime when in reality they don't, so I agree with you that they've dug their own graves. Personally I think one equivalent to yesteryear's luxury garments are Japanese brands such as Orslow, Buzz Ricksons and Warehouse which really care about craftmanship, the drawback with many of these brands however is that they tend to care more about craftmanship and workwear rather than elegance. So what about us who wants both quality and elegance? Personally I really enjoy mfpen, Barena Venezia, current Stone Island (they have started to drift away from slim fits which is good imo) and also agnès b. is still super consistent with their forever line that after all these years offer the same garments still made in France. Sorry if my english is a bit messy, it is not my native language.

He is!! We need more of us❤👌🏾

I’m African American as well, older than 39, and when I was younger there were many Blk folks I knew into Fashion.

Thanks so much I really appreciate it! ❤️ To be honest, I can see you mean. The area I grew up in London (Lewisham), people legit used to make fun of me because I was into fashion (not to the level of bullying but close) but now the same people have a deeper interest in it and I have conversations with them about it all the time (Not to go too deep but I think part of it is because black men in society are seen as having to live up to this hyper masculine standard and anything that slightly shifts from that wasn’t accepted back then. I remember back then, people could not wrap their heads around the fact that I was attracted to women, but at the same time had a lot of gay friends in fashion who I used to hang around with all the time. Luckily, a lot of these boxes have been broken with time). Maybe it’s just the timing of more people being into fashion and I know there were definitely black people that were super into fashion around the same time but maybe they felt they couldn’t be too open about it out of fear of facing abuse for it. I’m sure the rich black kids in the more affluent parts of London didn’t have to contend with the same mental gymnastics and I can imagine the dynamic was probably the same in the US because there tends to be a lot of similarities culturally.

im younger and black and i appreciate tfrm soooo much. it feels like sm of the more "avant garde" space isnt for us and that were designed to stay in a more streetwear esc space

Very true, but Bernard stuck with it until it started selling like hot cakes. There’s an amazing part of the “Kingdom of Dreams” series that illustrates how John Galliano started to win over Bernard Arnualt’s favour

@@FashionRoadman Ill check it out.

👀

100%

100% agree and that’s why I said it’s easier said than done. Even what is considered “commercial” for designers like Rick Owens, Yohji Yamamoto, Margiela etc has a very distinctive character about it that still sets it apart. It’s so difficult to be able to maintain that design language across all types of products a brand makes especially the more commercial offerings like accessories, t-shirts etc

@@FashionRoadman a difficult task, impressive if a designer is able to dial up and down to make a business viable. is there any other industry that requires this?!

Same here! I think it’s just complete and utter greed, a lot of these brands have watered down every last about their identity in the pursuit of profit.

Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks! I try, improving every video

Thanks bro 🙏🏿

Merci!

Hahaha 😂

That’s the trouble! Nobody has any money at present! At least, that’s what I feel. (hello from Western Australia.) Sigh ….

@@mimmamarg5394 I feel ya! worst time to be an adult I’d say. 😭😭

Looool 😂 but they can’t change what the customers want

The point made in the video was that every brand needs commercial products that help keep the brands afloat and help them maintain artistic integrity - using ramones, CDG play etc are examples to illustrate said point and I was specifically talking about what makes them money now - that is not refuting similar items that have helped them achieve the same goals in the past so of course your point is 100% valid but it didn’t necessarily address specifically what I said. I agree with you that these brands almost always have that hit product, I just gave examples of what those current hit products are for these brands. My wider point was basically to illustrate that you have to think commercially as a designer, there tends to be this mentality with some people that brands like CDG or Rick Owens aren’t commercial but they are, otherwise they still wouldn’t be here - you just have to do it in a smart way Also, In the early years CDG was definitely critically acclaimed and while things were selling, because of the big overheads it was a struggle at the start, then she became really successful and had franchises all over the place. However, the clothing sales did start to decline and that’s when her and Adrian Joffe started planning ways to diversify the brands income so they aren’t solely reliant on the brand’s clothing sales (this happens to a lot of brands where as they grow, their employees grow and they expand but then one bad season could legit decimate large businesses because the growth of the business has created huge overheads based on an assumed level of annual revenue) - Hence, her and Adrian Joffe started the fragrance line, eventually opened the first Dover street market etc. I actually only know this info because I’ve spoken to / interviewed Adrian Joffe as well as many people who have worked under the CDG umbrella like Fumito Ganryu. Sometimes it looks like a brand is financially healthy because they are selling a lot but a lot of the structures of these brands mean that they are still in financial difficulties. Just look at brands like Peter Do & Craig Green, I see so many people wearing these brands in london, they have loads of stockists worldwide and are still in financial difficulty. You need that one item that bolsters you into the mainstream and generates enough revenue for you to be able to invest in other parts of the business that ensure long term growth which is now the point that brands like Rick Owens & CDG are at.

You’re not fully getting it business wise, yes they got popular and recognized in their (relatively) early days while they were still a small brand but to maintain a large business like theirs today, those mainstream products are absolutely necessary. Also, using CDG and RO as examples it’s not that realistic because they’re some of the few exceptions of avant garde brands having a financial success but there are definitely way more brands that didn’t survived all of these financial struggles no matter how good and loved they were.

😂😂😂😂

Its funny you mention it actually, my first video on that channel is dropping next week. Just needed to settle properly after finishing my degree before I got started with that channel

Tbh the articles did say “parted ways.” I find it hard to believe the brand would sack him when they didn’t have any metric as to whether the collection actually did well or not.