How Social Media Has Changed Fashion

When I was a little girl, I pined over my only portal into the fashion world: the glossy pages of magazines. If you had told me that one day, I would have direct access to the crazy world of fashion from a tiny phone screen, I would have brushed it off as something from The Matrix. I grew up in what is now referred to as the “traditional” fashion era, and I was obsessed with all things fashion. Those magazines were my bible, and I acted on just about every word.
                                             

At the time, I had a sense that I was far removed from the glamorous world of fashion, but I did not understand the extent to which trends were decided for me. Industry gatekeepers—like buyers for major retailers and magazine editors—kept fashion exclusive. They had their kingdom of trend-happy consumers under tight control. Fashion Weeks consisted of runway shows where high-profile editors and endorsed celebrities sat in the front row, and the chosen pieces from designer collections would not be seen in stores for another four to six months.

Consumers are smarter than ever because of the variety of products to choose from, the constant evolution of technology and the all-access mindset of social media. As they say, knowledge is power. Today’s landscape of fashion is changing dramatically, and the average consumer is becoming more and more empowered.

If a new designer collection is on the runway, you can watch the fashion show from your couch with livestreaming platforms like Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Designers recognize the purchasing power that consumers hold, and today, that buying power means more than that of the traditional industry gatekeepers.

In fact, what bloggers are wearing on Instagram and other social media outlets has created such an impact on the way that consumers shop that retailers have reached out to them for content collaborations.

For instance, blogger Jacie Duprey of Damsel in Dior is an ambassador for Old Navy, mixing its affordable options with her own designer style to create one-of-a-kind looks.

French dressing

The Royal Ontario Museum's Dr. Alexandra Palmer says its upcoming Christian Dior exhibition celebrates the legendary atelier and the women who wore its creations.

One of the most meaningful post-show bows ever taken at a fashion presentation was when the entire Christian Dior atelier came out on stage at the end of its 2011 fall/winter Haute Couture collection. Fifteen-year creative head John Galliano had just been infamously dismissed, and the full team's appearance was a gesture that highlighted the fact that a designer for a brand is only one cog in the creative execution wheel.
                                                       

               
We've seen unprecedented results from international fashion exhibitions; why do you think there's such an appetite for these kinds of shows?

Fashion is something that everyone can relate to in a very personal way, whether you love it or hate it. It's a daily, ongoing relationship or trial that we have. With fashion, you can try on things and discard them or take them on physically in a way that you can't with any other form of decorative arts. It's also a way of expressing ourselves in very complex social, psychological and artistic ways. But fashion is very much associated with women and frivolity and vanity, so we have these huge complexes about it. Museum fashion exhibitions valorize it, and make it all right to think about fashion in an intellectual way.

Was there the same kind of gravitas to wearing a Dior label as there is today?

It was always prestigious to wear Haute Couture dresses. They're beautifully made and from Paris, so there's this magic about that. But it was a different time. Women wore the dresses for their social functions, for their daily lives, and for a lot of the philanthropic work they did — The Art Gallery of Toronto, as it was called, the symphony, the ballet, the hospitals. A lot of these women wore their suits to the committee meetings to plan the events. But what's really different is the consumption. Wardrobes weren't as huge and over-the-top as they are today. People really valued their clothes and they wore them a lot. The clothes were expensive, but not outrageously expensive. They were "affordable". They were for the elite, the women with means, but then they would donate them. There was no real vintage market until the late nineties, so they were given to the Hadassah Bazaar or the Junior League. As a member of the Hadassah or a member of the Junior League, that's what you did. And then they were also given to the museum, because the ROM's Betty Brett, the curator, was consciously trying to build up an Haute Couture collection at the Museum as examples of good design for Canadian designers and the public to learn about, and to be able to study.

Meet The Next Gen Fashion Disruptors

Can the next generation change the way the fashion industry operates for the better? We’re thinking yes. The future looks bright. On Tuesday night in Sydney, the UTS Fashion class of 2017 showed their graduate collections, before an audience that included Akira Isogawa, award-winning ex-student Kacey Devlin and fashion business insiders.
                                             

Sustainability, redefining gender and challenging the meaning of luxury were all on the menu.

Backstage Gina Snodgrass explained of her stand-out ‘Dandy Boys’ collection: “I don’t feel restricted by traditional masculine or feminine forms of dress. I looked at how those gendered dress codes have been created over time, and how they’ve changed. Historically if you look at court portraiture for example the men are always very elaborately dressed.” So she decked out her boys in smocked and beaded shirting and fine wool tailoring bonded with metallic lace. Today the old codes being dismantled, and Snodgrass, having been sponsored by the Australian Wool Education Trust (AWET), is well placed to build new ones in cloth.

Jessica Guzman also looked to the historical with a fresh eye. Her ‘Moral Panic’ collection was inspired by British class tensions. She was thinking about “status change [and] fashion as a tool of empowerment” - fake it till you make it. It was a smart idea, and she explored it with confidence using strong colour and witty print. There was a real feeling for the Zeitgeist here, especially in the sportswear referencing. “I think she hit the nail on the head of what people are really responding to right now” says Chant.

Backstage Lisa Liu explained that she began by looking at “the strong masculine culture of military uniforms and how I could subvert that.” She did so through pop colour and exuberant volume. Think sugar pink! In a tiered puffer coat with emerald green lining cinched with a neon orange tactical vest.

Disposable will be a dirty word at first Eco Fashion Week

A Perth woman who is one of vegan actress Pamela Anderson’s favourite designers will host the country’s first-ever eco fashion festival in November.
Disposable will be a dirty word at the festival showcasing durable, small-run clothing designed and made in Australia.
                                                 

Brigadoon designer Zuhal Kuvan-Mills’ Green Embassy label has garnered a global following but the interest in sustainable fashion in her adopted hometown is slight, to say the least.

“I made a little top and I sent it to her and she said she would wear that top during one of her magazine shoots alongside Vivienne Westwood,” Ms Kuvan-Mills said.
Eco Fashion Week is supported by the Australian Made campaign, which will provide a prize worth up to $20,000 to the winner of Best New Australian-Made Design. It will run from November 23-27 in Fremantle.

In the interim, you can pop a choc top at the latest instalment of Kingsman: The Golden Circle which has just arrived in cinemas. Since the first Kingsman film opened in 2015, also directed by Matthew Vaughn, the fashion brand collaboration has continued with Mr Porter, one of the most finely tuned fashion-film partnerships attempted (simply synching film and fashion production timelines makes the mind boggle). The brand has continued in the interim. The sixth collection is its most successful to date, so something’s clearly working. The seventh collection coincides with the new film, and as such brings a new slant alongside the traditional Savile Row style (pictured), namely more casual US styles, as seen on the characters from Statesman (the Kingsman spy ring’s US counterpart). This includes leather bomber jackets from San Francisco brand Golden Bear, which has created these since the 1940s, and felt hats from stetson.

Sarina store celebrates vintage fashion

VICTORIAN styling combined with steam power- era clothing best describes the fashion that has swept over the Mackay region in recent months, a genre being called steampunk.
                                               

A new store dedicated entirely to the theme has also popped up in Sarina, selling everything from steampunk to rockabilly and vintage style clothing and furniture.

SteamPunk Time was opened by owners Barbara and Rick Davis, who were looking to fill a vacant retail space on Broad St and decided they wanted to bring something unique to town.

They've now been in business for over a year and have managed to generated quite a following of new SteamPunk and rockabilly lovers from across the region.

Sales attendant and son to the couple, Frazer Davis, said the store offers a total mix of mis-matched and unique items, including lots of leather, black, crazy patterns, goggles, top hats and more.

"It started when my mum Barbara visited England and purchased a leather Around the World in 80 Days-style top hat. She was like 'wow, I love that' and from there learned all about what steampunk was.

SANDIE has left the building and Gypsy Lane owner Leanne Pomering said she was not coming back following the recent change of name and revamp of the popular Normanby Street shop in Yeppoon.

Leanne said the rebranding of the shop was a natural progression and fitting for the direction her business had taken.

Leanne said the shop was looking fabulous with new lighting that was much more environmentally friendly and there was accessibility for everyone, including mobility aides and prams.

Leanne's greatest pride in Gypsy Lane is that her daughter now assists her with merchandising.