WOTTONCOOL

The Future of Fashion

HP and MSN asks, what my vision of the Future Is,

The world is changing.

How do I know?

I read about Alexander McQueen’s death on BBC World and OneSixtyNotepad’s Twitter feed before reading it on The Straits Times.

Being a blogger now comes with a greater degree of credibility.

Bloggers were included in the Selection Committee for the first time, amidst heated debate, for the annual Council of Fashion Designers in America (CFDA) Fashion Awards.

Rodarte designers, Kate and Laura Mulleavy name Tavi Gevinson of Style Rookie as a muse.

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Bryanboy has a Marc Jacobs bag named in his honour.

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AND sat front row along with Tommy Ton of Jak and Jil, rubbing shoulders with Vogue’s Sally Singer, Anna Wintour and Hamish Bowles.

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Jane Aldridge of  Sea of Shoes and her killer shoe wall

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can name Kanye West as a reader

and has collaborated with Urban Outfitters to bring two capsule collections her own designs into the world.

Furthermore, taking a step out of the blogging circle,

Fashion is no longer constrained to the realm of privileged aristocracy of the early 1900s and times before,

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when models were hired full-time as live mannequins, traveling with the designer.

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and the wealthy shopped (typically) only twice a year – for Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter’s latest wardrobe essentials from big-name fashion houses.

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Now,

Fashion is for the masses.

As Miranda Priestly in Devil Wears Prada said,

“This… ‘stuff’?

Oh… ok. I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select out, oh I don’t know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you’re trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back.

But what you don’t know is that that sweater is not just blue, it’s not turquoise, it’s not lapis, it’s actually cerulean. You’re also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar De La Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St Laurent, wasn’t it, who showed cerulean military jackets?

I think we need a jacket here.

And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of 8 different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin.

However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and so it’s sort of comical how you think that you’ve made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you’re wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of stuff.“

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Mass market brands like Topshop, Mango, Zara and the likes are turning industry standards on it’s head with fast fashion all thanks to their strict control over supply chain.

Zara | Balmain

Zara | Dolce & Gabanna

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With the aid of technology, the trickle-down effect from luxury brands to mass market knock-offs reaches the masses in record time, not without some controversy though. (Various internet sources cite between 15 to 21 days for runway looks to reach stores)

Moreover, celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker got Bitten by the fashion bug,

and declared Fashion is not a Luxury, offering pieces from her line for under US$20 each.

Gwen Stefani gave us Love.Angel.Music.Baby (L.A.M.B.)

And thanks to the thoughtfulness and economically driven collaborations such as,

Stella McCartney for Adidas

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Stella McCartney for H&M 

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Stella McCartney for Baby GAP

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Viktor & Rolf for H&M

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Matthew Williamson for H&M

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Jimmy Choo for H&M

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Jil Sander for Uniqlo

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and Rodarte for Target

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the average middle-income fashionista can name-drop designers in their drawers instead of only admiring from afar, across the glossies of magazines.

With the aid of technology, fashion has become ever-so accessible now. Although coveted Fashion Week tickets to the world’s fashion capitals will continue to elude the average person (myself included),

Fashion houses such as Alexander McQueen, Burberry, Marc Jacobs, Ralph Lauren, Rodarte, Alexander Wang, Dior Homme, Prada and Emporio Armani have jumped on the live streaming bandwagon, offering a real-time close-up view of their latest Spring/Summer 2010 collections that showed at runways during New York Fashion Week and London Fashion Week much to the delight of millions of fans worldwide. And more are expected to follow suit.

Live streaming has been called “the new Black” and for the first time, the British Fashion Council found a necessity to publish a digital schedule of runway shows’ live streams.

The world is changing.

Wouldn’t you agree?

Two year ago, when two friends, very exasperated with studying Business, toyed with the idea of starting a fashion blog,

Had you told them then that it would result in meeting wonderful people like Fash-E, Bagaholicboy, OneSixtyNotepad, RockTheTrend, MyCherryMagazine, Trait, The Swirl Girls and Vogueite, just to name a few. (please don’t be offended if you aren’t mentioned. Much love, respect and admiration is still channeled your way still)

Had you told them that they’d appear in The Straits Times, Urban.

Or asked to participate in Puma’s Create Your Style Campaign.

Or meet Christopher Bailey, Chief Creative Director of Burberry.

Or share a photobooth moment with Liu Wen.

We would have laughed it off as a joke.

However, in the past two years, these things have happened and I am ever-so thankful to all the people who have helped make it happen.

Thank you.

And going back to the question of what my vision of the future is?

Well, I can only hope that its one filled with a lot more opportunities, surprises and smiles, not just for myself or for Wottoncool alone, but for everyone.

Cheers.