'that's the thing about the London shows: they only really like you if you are really new, really young and really really poor. they like to discover you and give you your first break. they love it if someone like Isabella Blow swoops in and buys your entire collection. or if Kate Moss walks off in all your clothes.
but if you are already doing okay, chugging along nicely with a rack in Harvey Nichols and some Matches orders under your belt, then they have nothing to write about. there's no story. they are looking for the next fashion forward freak with Perspex frocks and feather knickers to put on their front page.'
- p7
'one of the perks of following New York is that you get to see what all the other designers are doing. it is always worth looking at Marc Jacobs, Anna Sui, Michael Kors, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Tuleh, and getting the occasional glimpse of Oscar Pay My Renta, as the girls call him, just to make sure that we are on message. as a small company, it is important to get a ew items that are similar to what the fash pack are hailing as the trends for the season - a Russian-inspired skirt here, an Edwardian-meets-modern-looking shirt there, a sharp jacket, a silver coat.
if everyone is going red and you're the only one insisting on turquoise then you won't make the pages and pages of round-ups at the end of the season. those 'essential things for summer/autumn/winter' sections that grace the front pages of the glossies are bread and butter to us new kids on the block.'
- p13
''yeah, well, she's a supermodel,' says Mimi, snorting smoke out of her nose. 'she isn't,' i say. 'she's a top model.' 'anyway, there isn't such a thing these days,' says Alexander. 'there aren't any names any more.' 'tell them that,' says Mimi.
'just last week i was showing some strumpet into a frock and she was giving me such a lot of attitude. and i thought, fuck off, you're twelve and from fucking Siberia or some such shitholde. just because she was the face of Gucci or Prada or whatever, and Steve Meisel has used her in a couple of shoots, she thinks she can lord it about.'
'oh her,' says Alexander. 'my mater booked her for some shows in New York. turns out she can't walk. anyone who booked her for anything only let her come out in one look, so they could say they had her in the show. but other than that she was shit. she can't get down the catwalk. imagine not being able to put one foot in front of the other. how tragic is that?''
- p31
'talking of sizes, we only go up to a 14, and that's a normal 14, not Marks and Spencer sizing. Marks size 8 is equivalent to a Chanel size 12. i often get berated by larger women about why we only go up to a 14 and don't take into account the fuller figure. there are numerous reasons for this sizing decision.
firstly, it comes down to cost. simply in material terms, it costs me twice as much to make a size 16 dress as it does to make the same garment in a size 8, and i can't pass the cost on to the shop and therefore the customer. if size 16 clothes were nearly twice the price of size 8 clothes, then i might be tempted. but sadly they are not. and when the profit margins are as slight as they are, i can't afford to cater for the larger lady.
secondly, there isn't the demand for big designer clothes. maybe it is a vicious cycle: we don't make them large, therefore large girls feel too fat for fashion and aren't even tempted to go designer shopping. but all i know is that at the end of the season i am left with more 14s than any other size. come to our sample sale, or staff end-of-season sale, and all we have are 14s. granted, we have a few shop-soiled 10s, but it's normally large sizes that are left. so we concentrate on the 8-10 market, because that is where our client base lies.
there is also a third reason for a lack of size 16s, and it is probably a lot less diplomatic and a littlce more prejudiced. fashion is a business that deals in fantasy, dreams and illusion, and who fantasizess about being a size 16? unless of course you are a 20, then 16 probably looks rather good from where you are sitting. but on the whole, no woman sits down in the hairdresser's, flicks through a Vogue magazine and wishe she were the large girl in the advert.
designer clothes look better on skinny bodies. i have one designer mater who, when rather drunk at the Vogue drinks before London Fashion Week, once admitted that if he could get his clothes to walk down the runway without anyone in them, he would be a happy man. 'the lines hang in the right places without tits and arses,' he slurred. 'if only a flat piece of paper could move down the catwalk on its own. to be honest, as a designer, the last thing you want is anyone wearing your clothes.'
and i'm afraid i know of understand what he means. dresses, shirts and skirts look so perfect when you draw them on pieces of paper in the studio. it's only when the fabric flaws are introduced and the patter cutter says that the dress won't hang properly. so the thinner they are, the closer they are to the piece of paper the dress was designed on, and the better it is for me or any other designer.'
- p77
'at the moment, all my clobber is made in the UK. well, as anyone in the business will tell you, this, of course, is strictly not ture. you can have your stuff made up anywhere in the world, but just so long as the last hook and eye is put on in the UK, or the zip is finished off here, you can shove 'Made in the UK' on your label.
ten years ago, being British-made and carrying the British quality mark actually meant something; these days it just means that someone's put a button on before it went on the shop floor. and if you look closely enough, you can tell it wasn't made here. the tension might not be right in the stitching, the seam might be crooked, the garment won't be steamed or folded correctly.'
- p78
'the other great problem is cabbage. cabbage is the stuff that falls off the back of a lorry, or indeed out of the factory gate, and ends up on a market stall next to the cabbage - hence its name. cabbage doesn't come from the factory short-serving the client, i.e. delivering 2000 handbags instead of 2200. it comes from the leftover product that the factory hasn't used in the make of the bag/dress/shirt. when ordering material for your bag/dress/shirt you have to add on at least another 10 per cent for mistakes. if the factory is careful and doesn't need this extra material, they are left with another 10 per cent of your product that is unaccounted for. it disappears out the back of the factory and ends up in a Florence or Milan market. the higher the order, the larger the amount of cabbage.
the Gucci handbags in Florence market look just like the real ones, simply because they are the real ones. the Pucci scarf is the Pucci scarf, and the Dior wallet is a Dior wallet. we are extremely wary of cabbage and order all our material to the exact metre rating for all our clothes in Hungary. so there is very little margin for error. we are a small company and can't really afford cabbage.
fake goods are an entirely different story. made of sub-standard product with poor stitching and often to never-produced designs, fakes are a Far Eastern specialty.'
- p81
'in the end, we are catering for a very small group of women who are so highly fashion aware that once a collection has been on the rails for more than four weeks it has lost its allure. most designers are running to keep up. in an attempt to keep piquing the interest of these fickle women they are coming out with pre-Fall and pre-Spring/Summer collections in the middle of the season to keep their sales figures on a more even keel.
some designers who head up their own brand, and others like Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, Galliano for Dior and Williamson for Pucci, have to design eight collections a year.
it's not wonder, then, that fashion looks like it is running out of ideas. some designs have become so watered-down and derivative. if you are working that hard to keep up with the consumer whose appetite is increasingly insatiable, you have to ask yourself, where will it all stop?
some people are saying that fashion shows will become unnecesary. pre-Fall and pre-Spring/Summer collections traditionally go into the shops without being shown on the catwalks - although some Americans broke that mould last Summer and showed their pre-Fall. but usually they don't get shown, which brings into question the reason for showing in the first place. firstly, your clothes get ripped off and go straight onto the high street before you have managed to contact your stitchers in Hungary.
secondly, the internet, Style.com and the weekly fashion mags deliver their verdict on your show and display the images way before Vogue and Harpers, so your collection feels old hat beore it even hits the shops.'
- p181
'some designers employ companies whose sole job it is to count the number of column inches and picture credits they get in a magazine, and pressure is applied accordingly. so, just as an editor is about to go out on a shoot she'll find her rail of clothes called back in and the white Viktor and Rolf shirt will be exchanged for MaxMara, or a Versace, or an Armani. the black trousers they'd called in from Vivienne Westwood will be exchanged for a pair from an advertiser. it won't be the fantastic silk dress that they change, but something that no-one would really notice.
US Vogue only ever has advertisers on the cover, and there are plenty of magazines that do the same.'
- p187, Fashion Babylon - Imogen Edwards-Jones & Anonymous
but if you are already doing okay, chugging along nicely with a rack in Harvey Nichols and some Matches orders under your belt, then they have nothing to write about. there's no story. they are looking for the next fashion forward freak with Perspex frocks and feather knickers to put on their front page.'
- p7
'one of the perks of following New York is that you get to see what all the other designers are doing. it is always worth looking at Marc Jacobs, Anna Sui, Michael Kors, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Tuleh, and getting the occasional glimpse of Oscar Pay My Renta, as the girls call him, just to make sure that we are on message. as a small company, it is important to get a ew items that are similar to what the fash pack are hailing as the trends for the season - a Russian-inspired skirt here, an Edwardian-meets-modern-looking shirt there, a sharp jacket, a silver coat.
if everyone is going red and you're the only one insisting on turquoise then you won't make the pages and pages of round-ups at the end of the season. those 'essential things for summer/autumn/winter' sections that grace the front pages of the glossies are bread and butter to us new kids on the block.'
- p13
''yeah, well, she's a supermodel,' says Mimi, snorting smoke out of her nose. 'she isn't,' i say. 'she's a top model.' 'anyway, there isn't such a thing these days,' says Alexander. 'there aren't any names any more.' 'tell them that,' says Mimi.
'just last week i was showing some strumpet into a frock and she was giving me such a lot of attitude. and i thought, fuck off, you're twelve and from fucking Siberia or some such shitholde. just because she was the face of Gucci or Prada or whatever, and Steve Meisel has used her in a couple of shoots, she thinks she can lord it about.'
'oh her,' says Alexander. 'my mater booked her for some shows in New York. turns out she can't walk. anyone who booked her for anything only let her come out in one look, so they could say they had her in the show. but other than that she was shit. she can't get down the catwalk. imagine not being able to put one foot in front of the other. how tragic is that?''
- p31
'talking of sizes, we only go up to a 14, and that's a normal 14, not Marks and Spencer sizing. Marks size 8 is equivalent to a Chanel size 12. i often get berated by larger women about why we only go up to a 14 and don't take into account the fuller figure. there are numerous reasons for this sizing decision.
firstly, it comes down to cost. simply in material terms, it costs me twice as much to make a size 16 dress as it does to make the same garment in a size 8, and i can't pass the cost on to the shop and therefore the customer. if size 16 clothes were nearly twice the price of size 8 clothes, then i might be tempted. but sadly they are not. and when the profit margins are as slight as they are, i can't afford to cater for the larger lady.
secondly, there isn't the demand for big designer clothes. maybe it is a vicious cycle: we don't make them large, therefore large girls feel too fat for fashion and aren't even tempted to go designer shopping. but all i know is that at the end of the season i am left with more 14s than any other size. come to our sample sale, or staff end-of-season sale, and all we have are 14s. granted, we have a few shop-soiled 10s, but it's normally large sizes that are left. so we concentrate on the 8-10 market, because that is where our client base lies.
there is also a third reason for a lack of size 16s, and it is probably a lot less diplomatic and a littlce more prejudiced. fashion is a business that deals in fantasy, dreams and illusion, and who fantasizess about being a size 16? unless of course you are a 20, then 16 probably looks rather good from where you are sitting. but on the whole, no woman sits down in the hairdresser's, flicks through a Vogue magazine and wishe she were the large girl in the advert.
designer clothes look better on skinny bodies. i have one designer mater who, when rather drunk at the Vogue drinks before London Fashion Week, once admitted that if he could get his clothes to walk down the runway without anyone in them, he would be a happy man. 'the lines hang in the right places without tits and arses,' he slurred. 'if only a flat piece of paper could move down the catwalk on its own. to be honest, as a designer, the last thing you want is anyone wearing your clothes.'
and i'm afraid i know of understand what he means. dresses, shirts and skirts look so perfect when you draw them on pieces of paper in the studio. it's only when the fabric flaws are introduced and the patter cutter says that the dress won't hang properly. so the thinner they are, the closer they are to the piece of paper the dress was designed on, and the better it is for me or any other designer.'
- p77
'at the moment, all my clobber is made in the UK. well, as anyone in the business will tell you, this, of course, is strictly not ture. you can have your stuff made up anywhere in the world, but just so long as the last hook and eye is put on in the UK, or the zip is finished off here, you can shove 'Made in the UK' on your label.
ten years ago, being British-made and carrying the British quality mark actually meant something; these days it just means that someone's put a button on before it went on the shop floor. and if you look closely enough, you can tell it wasn't made here. the tension might not be right in the stitching, the seam might be crooked, the garment won't be steamed or folded correctly.'
- p78
'the other great problem is cabbage. cabbage is the stuff that falls off the back of a lorry, or indeed out of the factory gate, and ends up on a market stall next to the cabbage - hence its name. cabbage doesn't come from the factory short-serving the client, i.e. delivering 2000 handbags instead of 2200. it comes from the leftover product that the factory hasn't used in the make of the bag/dress/shirt. when ordering material for your bag/dress/shirt you have to add on at least another 10 per cent for mistakes. if the factory is careful and doesn't need this extra material, they are left with another 10 per cent of your product that is unaccounted for. it disappears out the back of the factory and ends up in a Florence or Milan market. the higher the order, the larger the amount of cabbage.
the Gucci handbags in Florence market look just like the real ones, simply because they are the real ones. the Pucci scarf is the Pucci scarf, and the Dior wallet is a Dior wallet. we are extremely wary of cabbage and order all our material to the exact metre rating for all our clothes in Hungary. so there is very little margin for error. we are a small company and can't really afford cabbage.
fake goods are an entirely different story. made of sub-standard product with poor stitching and often to never-produced designs, fakes are a Far Eastern specialty.'
- p81
'in the end, we are catering for a very small group of women who are so highly fashion aware that once a collection has been on the rails for more than four weeks it has lost its allure. most designers are running to keep up. in an attempt to keep piquing the interest of these fickle women they are coming out with pre-Fall and pre-Spring/Summer collections in the middle of the season to keep their sales figures on a more even keel.
some designers who head up their own brand, and others like Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, Galliano for Dior and Williamson for Pucci, have to design eight collections a year.
it's not wonder, then, that fashion looks like it is running out of ideas. some designs have become so watered-down and derivative. if you are working that hard to keep up with the consumer whose appetite is increasingly insatiable, you have to ask yourself, where will it all stop?
some people are saying that fashion shows will become unnecesary. pre-Fall and pre-Spring/Summer collections traditionally go into the shops without being shown on the catwalks - although some Americans broke that mould last Summer and showed their pre-Fall. but usually they don't get shown, which brings into question the reason for showing in the first place. firstly, your clothes get ripped off and go straight onto the high street before you have managed to contact your stitchers in Hungary.
secondly, the internet, Style.com and the weekly fashion mags deliver their verdict on your show and display the images way before Vogue and Harpers, so your collection feels old hat beore it even hits the shops.'
- p181
'some designers employ companies whose sole job it is to count the number of column inches and picture credits they get in a magazine, and pressure is applied accordingly. so, just as an editor is about to go out on a shoot she'll find her rail of clothes called back in and the white Viktor and Rolf shirt will be exchanged for MaxMara, or a Versace, or an Armani. the black trousers they'd called in from Vivienne Westwood will be exchanged for a pair from an advertiser. it won't be the fantastic silk dress that they change, but something that no-one would really notice.
US Vogue only ever has advertisers on the cover, and there are plenty of magazines that do the same.'
- p187, Fashion Babylon - Imogen Edwards-Jones & Anonymous
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