FASHION CITIES & CENTERS
FASHION CITIES & CENTERS
GLOSSARY
costume jewelry Traditionally, this is jewelry made with imitation gemstones and not using precious metals. It is worn to embellish a specific outfit at an affordable price. Coco Chanel and Hollywood movies from the 1930s to the 1950s were particularly influential in spreading the popularity of costume jewelry. Today it can be highly sought after, and costume jewelry designed by couturiers or well-known jewelry designers can command high- end prices.
fashion capital A world city that is both a site for the production and the display of fashion, and where the fashion culture of that city is unique and immediately identifiable as being from that locality. This fashion culture is vitally important to that city in terms of cultural and economic output, and their emanating style innovations will influence general global fashion trends.
gamine A woman who is typically slim, mischievous, often childlike, and somewhat boyish, perhaps with cropped hair, sums up the gamine style.
haute couture Literally “elite sewing,” the haute couture house is based in Paris and is a member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. Garments are bespoke, fitted directly to the client, and made by seamstresses from the drawings or ideas of the chief designer before being embellished, for example, with embroidery or beadwork.
hip-hop From roots in mid-1970s New York, hip-hop began to reach the mainstream during the 1980s, with its music, a combination of DJs and MCs, and an uncompromising urban street style. Aspirational dressing, in the form of elite sportswear brands and high-end designers, has become a key part of the look.
lengha (also known as lehenga or ghagra) A long, embroidered, and pleated skirt from South Asia worn with a choli, a midriff-baring tight blouse, and a dupatta, a shawl or scarf.
punk A movement that emerged in mid-1970s New York and London. Defiantly antiestablishment and individualistic, it has had an enduring influence, particularly on music and fashion. Originally with a strong DIY ethos, the punk look has since been unfairly stereotyped.
ready-to-wear Clothing that is mass-manufactured in standard sizes and bought by a consumer without prefitting or individual preordering—that is the majority of clothing bought by consumers today.
sari A garment traditionally worn by South Asian women, consisting of a long rectangle of fabric, one end wrapped around the waist to form a full-length skirt, the other end draped over the shoulder or head.
Savile Row A street in London and home to various firms of bespoke tailors, such as Gieves & Hawkes. Now synonymous with the “English gent” look.
sherwani A formal knee-length coat, traditionally worn by South Asian men, which buttons up to the neck and has a small stand-up collar.
street style Fashion innovations or trends that come from, for example, music or subcultural arenas, that is the “street,” rather than from fashion designers. These may then influence elite and mainstream fashion, for instance, the black leather motorcycle jacket.
sweatshop A factory or workshop where manual workers are employed for long hours with low pay and under poor or dangerous conditions, with very few workers’ rights. Local laws may also have been violated, for instance, the use of child labor or disregarding minimum wage pay levels, with workers exploited to produce cheap goods for manufacturers, usually to sell to the West.
LONDON
While Savile Row’s tailors set international standards for menswear throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, London did not become a fashion destination for womenswear until the 1960s, when designers such as Mary Quant and Barbara Hulanicki created free-flowing, irreverent clothes for the generation of postwar baby boomers, who rejected the 1950s stiff, fussy, Paris-imitation garments. These designers’ supremely young aesthetic was promoted by unpolished, gamine models, such as Jean Shrimpton and Twiggy, and the haphazard, cluttered atmosphere of their boutiques resembled thrift stores rather than Parisian couture houses. Theatricality and eccentricity have remained staples of London fashion. For the past five decades, the close association between an art-school education and fashion design have encouraged creative self-expression, sometimes at the expense of commercialism. Nevertheless, the innovative, sometimes provocative work of fashion design graduates at top London art schools has gained international recognition. Subsequently, London schools have nurtured leading international talents, including Mary Katrantzou and Erdem Moralioglu, and graduates have attained prominent positions at global fashion brands.
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London fashion’s eclecticism extends to its consumers, who subvert traditional boundaries of formal and casualwear, vintage and modern clothing, to create and document their personal style.
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Writers including Robert O’Byrne have argued that elite fashion’s growth in London has been challenged by the long-held British prejudice that fashion is frivolous, transient, and not worth investing in. Instead, consumers’ desires for low-cost sartorial novelty have been met by main-street chains, which have achieved international recognition in their own right. This is especially true of Topshop, a trend-conscious, ready-to-wear brand.
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MARY QUANT
1934–
Fashion designer who was a key figure in 1960s’ London youth fashion
BARBARA HULANICKI
1936–
Fashion designer who opened the Biba boutique in London in 1964
MARY KATRANTZOU
1983–
Fashion designer who studied at Central Saint Martins and based her label in London
EXPERT
Katerina Pantelides
London gained a reputation for youth fashion in the 1960s, and is still associated with sartorial innovation.
PARIS
The French capital’s association with the latest fashions dates back to the seventeenth-century court of Louis XIV at Versailles. From the opening of Charles Frederick Worth’s couture house in 1858, which adapted ornately preconceived designs for elite women and therefore posited a feminine ideal, female dress gained the status of an art form in the city. During the early to mid twentieth-century, Paris-based couturiers, such as Coco Chanel and Christian Dior, were typically French. However, from the mid-1970s onward, overseas designers, including Issey Miyake and Azzedine Alaïa, were invited to showcase their collections in Paris. This, along with the prominence of renowned and talented international designers at the head of Parisian fashion houses (for example, British Clare Waight Keller at Chloé or Belgian Raf Simons at Christian Dior), has given Paris the status of a visionary, global fashion capital. However, the city’s female inhabitants, parisiennes, continue to be mythologized as ideal consumers, because they have the reputation for seamlessly incorporating current trends into their personal style without becoming fashion victims. Indeed, the mythic parisienne, defined by her consciously carefree approach to fashion, is a prominent figure in international fashion editorials and advertisements.
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Perhaps the most iconic fashion capital of all, Paris is the birthplace of haute couture.
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The global financial crisis of 2008 led to the promotion of understated simplicity above spectacle in both Paris-based designer collections, and parisiennes’ personal style. For example, Isabel Marant, who emphasizes practicality and versatility in her reversible jackets and tops that can be worn as dresses, has enjoyed great popularity since 2010. Similarly, Emmanuelle Alt, Editor of French Vogue, has stressed the mood for earthy, identifiable figures in fashion editorials, rather than extravagant escapism.
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CHARLES FREDERICK WORTH
1825–95
Designer, considered the father of haute couture
ISABEL MARANT
1967–
Designer who specializes in high-quality ready-to-wear
RAF SIMONS
1968–
Creative Director at Christian Dior 2012–15
CLARE WAIGHT KELLER
1970–
Creative Director at Chloé
EXPERT
Katerina Pantelides
Paris’s architecture has provided a perennial backdrop for fashion photographers.
NEW YORK
New York’s fashion industry is as modern as its architecture. Built on ready-to-wear, rather than couture, it has the reputation for being democratic and new—as opposed to “Old World,” elite dress, as epitomized by Paris. That said, it took until the mid-twentieth century to shake the idea that all New York fashion did was reproduce trends pioneered by the French capital. It really came into its own during the Second World War, when it cemented its place as the center of sports-inspired fashions. Seventh Avenue emerged in the early twentieth century as the core of the American fashion system—mass-producing fashions at all price points. Allied to this, by the 1930s, was a push to define its own style that could be publicized to domestic and international audiences. Designers such as Claire McCardell crystallized the city’s “look”—interchangeable separates, sporty, athletic styles, and the notion of a customer that was active and busy, who needed easily adaptable clothes. This style continued, made glamorous and decadent by Halston in the 1970s, and becoming internationally dominant with Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, and Ralph Lauren a decade later. New York’s street style is equally vibrant, from punk to hip-hop, but the city’s fashion signature has remained more focused on commercial styles.
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New York Fashion Week is the hub of commercial fashion, attracting international designers who benefit from its slick PR machine.
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New York has had a creative revival in the 2000s, with younger designers, from Rodarte to Alexander Wang, Jason Wu, and Prabal Gurung bringing more diversity—both in terms of the designers’ ethnicity and the types of designs offered. This has been accompanied by a rise in influential menswear designers, such as Thom Browne, whose womenswear has also shown the city’s more nostalgic and theatrical side.
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ELEANOR LAMBERT
1903–2003
Public relations pioneer and a major influence on the development of the American fashion industry
DIANE VON FURSTENBERG
1946–
Fashion designer, most famous as creator of the “wrap dress” in 1974; President of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CDFA) since 2006
EXPERT
Rebecca Arnold
Driven by a sassy, commercial style, New York fashions reflect the city’s dynamism.
MILAN
Standing alongside London, Paris, and New York as one of the four principal global fashion capitals, Milan came to the fore as a hub of Italian fashion design and manufacturing in the 1970s. The city drew upon its close proximity to textile manufacturers, strong infrastructure, and rich history as a site of industrial design to become an internationally recognized epicenter of the fashion industry. Its success was influenced by developments in ready-to-wear clothing, which the Italian fashion industry embraced as a lucrative and accessible alternative to couture for the era’s new youth-driven market. The first veritable ready-to-wear fashion show was held in Milan in 1972, featuring textile companies such as Missoni, which reflected the city’s propensity for innovative production techniques and its position at the heart of the country’s industrial landscape. As the nucleus of Italy’s fashion press and advertising industries, brands such as Versace, Prada, and Gucci saw Milan as a logical base for their businesses and in 1978, the “Milano Collezioni,” the earliest form of the Milan Fashion Week shows, was established. Uniting fashion and industry, Milan became renowned for its spectacular shows, glamorous aesthetic, and its blending of traditional craftsmanship and innovative technology in the creation of luxury leather goods and textiles.
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The epicenter of the Italian fashion industry, Milan is one of four principal global fashion capitals, distinguished by its emphasis on luxury goods and glamor.
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In the twenty-first century, Milan’s influence as a fashion center extends beyond its starring role in the biannual international fashion show calendar. With its near-mythical connotations of unparalleled glamor and glossily packaged aspiration, Milan has become a year-round destination for fashion “tourism,” drawing legions of international consumers to its high-end shopping opportunities. Simultaneously, the city has become a global symbol of luxury, taste, and modernity.
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GIORGIO ARMANI
1934–
Influential fashion designer whose Armani brand was established in Milan in 1975
GIANNI VERSACE
1946–97
Fashion designer whose Milan-based Versace brand epitomizes contemporary Italian fashion
EXPERT
Julia Rea
Milan forms an urban backdrop to Italian fashion’s high-octane brand of glamor and luxury.
TOKYO
Since Japan opened its borders to the West in 1853, its culture has greatly influenced artists and thinkers alike, but during the 1980s, Tokyo emerged as one of fashion’s great capital cities. At this time, three young, Tokyo-based designers began showing at Paris Fashion Week. They were Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo (for her label Comme des Garçons), and Yohji Yamamoto. During the 1980s, much of the industry was producing opulent looks in a kaleidoscope of jewel tones. In contrast, Miyake, Kawakubo, and Yamamoto showed rough, worn-looking garments in monochromatic shades of black, white, and gray. Their clothes were loose fitting, unconventionally cut, and often asymmetrical. They used holes and frayed edges as decoration and would “deconstruct” traditional garments and reconstruct them into new and interesting forms—a technique that would become de rigueur for cutting-edge fashion in the decades to follow. At first, the press derided their work as “post-atomic” chic, but these three pioneered a conceptual approach to fashion. They challenged Western notions of fit and finish, and, in so doing, solidified Tokyo’s position as a hub of fashion’s avant-garde. The next generation of designers has continued this legacy, including Undercover’s Jun Takahashi, Junya Watanabe, and Sacai’s Chitose Abe.
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As a hub of both fashion design talent and cutting-edge street-style, Tokyo has positioned itself as one of fashion’s most forward-thinking capitals.
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Tokyo is not only hailed for its avant-garde designers, but also for its distinctive street style. The sometimes extreme looks adopted by Tokyo’s different style tribes are often a mélange of trends and references—these can vary from Victorian childrenswear to Japanese anime (or manga) characters. Each style tribe has its own vocabulary of looks, but they share an interest in experimentation, customization, and attention to detail in the way they dress.
3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
ISSEY MIYAKE
1938–
Tokyo-based designer
REI KAWAKUBO
1942–
Tokyo-based designer and founder of Comme des Garçons
YOHJI YAMAMOTO
1943–
Tokyo-based designer
EXPERT
Emma McClendon
Tokyo is renowned worldwide for both its avant-garde high fashion and its distinctive street style.
SÃO PAULO
Boasting the largest GDP in Latin America, as well as substantial communities of Italian, Lebanese, and Japanese immigrants, São Paulo is a diverse state and cosmopolitan city. While domestically viewed as a stylish shopping destination, recent global interest has cast it as the epicenter of fashion in South America. Iguatemi São Paulo, the first mall of Brazil, opened in the 1960s, catering to affluent consumers and carrying primarily foreign and luxury retail brands. A function of both security and consumer desire, the bulk of Brazilian retail fashion is concentrated and consumed in malls. The growth of the middle class has spurred the development of malls that feature local and low-cost apparel brands. Stores such as Lojas Riachuelo, Lojas Renner, and Lojas Marisa stand alongside international players such as Topshop, Gap, and Zara. Brazil’s most densely populated metropolis also plays host to São Paulo Fashion Week, the fifth largest behind London, Paris, New York, and Milan respectively. Founded in 1996, this biannual affair draws nearly a million visitors and showcases the work of more than forty Brazil-based designers. Alexandre Herchcovitch, PatBo, and Uma all create garments that have drawn an international audience and counter the dismissive assertion that only swimwear is produced in South America.
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In recent decades, São Paulo has established itself on the global fashion map.
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The fashion industry is often charged with presenting too narrow a vision of beauty, and one that fails to represent the diversity of an increasingly global audience. In 2009, São Paulo Fashion Week enacted requirements to ensure that at least 10 percent of models be “black or indigenous” as a way to foster diversity.
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ALEXANDRE HERCHCOVITCH
1971–
Central Saint Martins graduate and influential Brazilian designer who started his eponymous line in 1994
GISELE BÜNDCHEN
1980–
The world’s highest-paid model chose the Spring 2015 Colcci show during São Paulo Fashion Week to retire from modeling
EXPERT
Rebecca Straub
From models to fashion designers, Brazilians play a role in shaping the look of fashion both inside and outside of South America.
INDIA
In a country with a rich history of textile production that stretches back to the domestication of cotton in 4000 BCE, contemporary Indian designers push at the boundaries of traditional dress by imagining new possibilities for hand embroidery and other time-honored practices. The Fashion Design Council of India, a not-for-profit organization charged with “promoting, nurturing, and representing the best of fashion design,” created Lakme Fashion Week in 1999. The biannual event takes place in Mumbai and honors the council’s commitment to promote Indian designers. By dressing some of Bollywood’s leading men and women, designers such as Manish Malhotra and Tarun Tahiliani use the popularity and visibility of Hindi cinema—a $1.9 billion industry—to market their designs. Payal Singhal, Nikhil Thampi, and Gaurav Gupta stand out for their use of traditional methods of embellishment. Yet they use lavishly hand-embroidered details on modern, even futuristically shaped garments. Displaying such a high degree of craftsmanship and sumptuous ornamentation serves the dual function of creating garments that meet the demands of the Indian wedding and sari market, while also distinguishing their work in the international marketplace.
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Contemporary Indian designers create clothing that responds to a global market for fashion without sacrificing traditional methods of production.
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Worldwide, the Indian wedding market is a $20 billion industry. Demand for lenghas, sherwanis, and wedding jewelry from both inside and outside the country has spurred investment in e-commerce sites. Exclusively.in, one of the largest online Indian apparel retailers, maintains a dedicated wedding boutique and is active on social media. Customers can purchase Indian-sourced garments and post wedding photos to the Facebook page, which serve as the best advertisement for Exclusively’s wares.
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MANISH MALHOTRA
1965—
Model turned designer responsible for redefining the look of Bollywood costume in Indian cinema
GAURAV GUPTA
1979–
Central Saint Martins graduate hailed internationally as “The Future of Couture,” and India’s brightest fashion star
NIKHIL THAMPI
1986–
Favorite designer among Bollywood actresses
EXPERT
Rebecca Straub
Indian craftsmanship combines with creative impulses to produce garments that aim to satisfy the needs of a global marketplace.
CHINA
Clothing in China has long been used to express status and political affiliation, as well as personal style. In the seventeenth century, Manchu-Qing rulers asserted their authority over the Han population by creating strict rules for imperial dress, and in the twentieth century the Mao suit came to represent the dissolution of class distinctions promised under communism. Amid the growth of China’s middle class and accompanying consumer culture, the Chinese fashion industry has flourished in the twenty-first century. Luxury brands including Louis Vuitton and Michael Kors have opened stores in mainland China, and Chinese tourists represent the fastest-growing demographic for luxury spending. Yet these high-end retailers face strong competition from contemporary Chinese designers. In 1997, China established its own fashion week, creating a public stage to showcase homegrown talent. Brands such as Dancing Wolves, SUN TOMORROW, and Merisis take to Beijing’s runways twice a year to show their work. In 2005, Condé Nast started Vogue China. “Vogue China readers are mostly working women, dressing is only a small part of their lives, so I have to capture the other parts,” stated the magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Angelica Cheung, describing an audience eager to absorb high fashion as one of many contemporary pursuits.
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China both produces and consumes much of the world’s fashion. It embodies the complicated relationship the fashion industry has with the production of its goods.
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As the manufacturer of much of the world’s ready-to-wear clothing, the global fashion industry could not operate at the speed and with the reach it currently achieves without Chinese labor. Yet, describing fashion only in terms of sweatshops and the multinational companies that employ them obscures the aesthetic innovation that the Chinese fashion industry now fosters, and ignores the influence traditional Chinese dress and art have always had on the West.
3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
ANGELICA CHEUNG
1966–
Editor-in-Chief of Vogue China
WU XINJIAO
Dates unknown
Design director of Hangzhou Initial Life Fashion, and SUN TOMORROW
LI NA
Dates unknown
Head designer for Merisis
EXPERT
Rebecca Straub
China’s rich history of dress and manufacture can be seen in the work of its contemporary fashion designers including Merisis (top), Dancing Wolves (bottom left), and RanFan (bottom right).
