‘I, Elizabeth Hawes, have sold, stolen and designed clothes in Paris.’
Infamously engraved into her pages of her 1973 book 'Fashion Is Spinach, Elizabeth Hawes made an insightful statement about the fashion industry, designing and the philosophy of creativity. Hawes held the title of the first American design to showcase their collection during Paris Fashion Week and a critic under the pseudonym Parasite for the New Yorker. Indeed this was not what her statement referred to, but that of her tainted past. The past of being a copieuse.
Initially sent to Paris by the American fashion industry as a correspondent to report back on the Paris fashion scene by sketching designs so as to product and sell to the demanding mass market in the USA, Hawkes recalls the lack of creativity, jealousy and tension within the industry. Fashion is arguably depicted as a money wielding machine throughout the chapters and there was no creativity in designing nor was there self express. Simply put, fashion was the process of robotically churning out mass products to mass audiences.
Of course, creativity is a term far removed from what is once was. Is creativity a talent, a mere idea or a quality or trait? To be unique not only sets one apart from others, leaving a mark in fashion history but also acquiring acknowledgement, celebration and
popularity amongst the masses. It is argued that creativity is a term loosely applied to the art of hard work, practicality and technical skills rather then a genius mind or attribution to the artist . . .
Creativity must translate an artistic view into something practical, and in the
case of fashion, something sustainable and sellable. This transformation
encompasses many processes from invention to consumption within a narrow
time window. In this environment, the act of copying has evolved from being
seen as intellectual rape to aesthetic category.
Today it is often presented as a celebration, an homage, or better, recognition
of value and success. Copying is no longer simply a tool in the hands of mass
retailers to make money from someone else’s ideas, but has become a
communication instrument in the hands of the designer and the fashion houses, in order, in the short period of time
they have each season, to reach a vaster audience. This way, without having to come to terms with democratic
design, they safeguard the hauteur and exclusivity they received in heritage from the brand name.
Fashion, either in the reality of the clothes or their two dimensional images, is at the disposal of all. The Internet and the proliferation of fashion magazines have played a major role in the democratisation of opinions. Invested with of the fundamental duty of translating the signs and suggestions given by designers into clothes available for
everyone, the mass market has benefitted from this democratisation. It seems the role of the designer is no longer
to size the zeitgeist and catch the will of the consumer but instead to produce a plethora of images.
The consumer simply stands by and admires and generates demand for a style-oriented, recognisable but still
affordable product. Our concerns seem far remote from a repentant Hawes who lamented the lack of creativity in
the copy market.
On the contrary, most designers are more then satisfied to see high street stores, retailers and small boutiques
taking inspiration from their creation to be styled in an affordable way. However, the meaning behind each creation
is that it makes a statement, abiding to a designer's mantra.
What differs from the past of Hawes' time to now is not precisely the organisation of the industry but the relationship
designers and consumers have with the act of copying. The relationship we, customers, have with the copy is
surely more relaxed now.
Does this means that fashion has reached the dignity of an artistic practice, not looking at profit but rather the
circulation of its messages? We cannot forget that fashion is rooted into our culture primarily as an industry.
Fashion must be the carefully balanced synthesis between the world of ideas and that of profit. Fashion houses
should sell ideas before clothes, and be proud of their creative industrial practice, not ashamed of it.
Inspired by Marta Franceschini's work
I wanted to repost this as it is a beautiful piece of writing. All credit goes to the author.
I wanted to repost this as it is a beautiful piece of writing. All credit goes to the author.
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