Do you think Luxury Fashion will survive against the Mass Market and Commercial products in the future? What is the difference between Luxury Fashion and the Mass Market? Before we get into the details, let’s discuss an example from the recent Met Gala in New York.
Kim Kardashian West arrived at the 2021 Met Gala wearing a bodysuit and gown designed by Demna Gvasalia with inspiration from Kanye West. The outfit loudly screamed that the theme of the soirée, “In America: The Lexicon of Fashion,” had been overlooked, compromising the brand integrity of Balenciaga itself. In contrast, the ensemble reflected the design standards of Shein, a hallmark of an evolving Asian commercial brand. Fashion journalism has created a surplus of stories to justify the relevance of the outfit to the theme of the Met Gala and the brand’s approach to an inclusive audience, which is mere semantics because Cristobal Balenciaga’s collections were identifiable by his dedication to concepts, style, cut, and quality.
Today, luxury fashion resembles the mass-market or maas-produced goods bearing the names of long-dead masters, justifying their overprices through media hype and perceived scarcity. As a result, their interpretation of luxury does not reflect quality, exclusivity, or sustainability, which is the literal definition of luxury fashion.
Let me illustrate this further with two brand analyses. The Luxury Fashion vs the Mass Markert.
Being a Fashionista and a Marketing enthusiast, I want to highlight the quality, focusing on the craft of the products in terms of business. As we have learned and understood, the target personas and lifestyles of the buyers of each brand are very different, so as a result, the bag prices differ wildly. When we compare, the Gucci bag consists of vegetable-tanned and grainy leather, a type of calfskin that produces extra softness. Vegetable-tanned leather does not allow the bag to crack or dry out, so it naturally offers a longer lifespan.
LEATHER QUALITY OF THE TWO BRANDS
While the Furla bag turns out of Saffiano leather, it is the signature leather used frequently in Prada bags, which traditionally comes out of the highest quality calf leather. However, considering the price of the Furla bag, I discovered that this bag incorporated cheap split leather with a surface coating simply printed with the crosshatch design “Saffiano Leather.” But even then, the leather quality of the Furla bag is no less than the Gucci. It is slightly more rigid than the Gucci leather bag, but this bag is highly resistant to water.
STITCHING TECHNIQUES
Then again, Gucci used deep-set and tone-on-tone stitches on the outside, usually on medium or thick leather, to achieve a neat finish and elevated stitches on the inside pockets. Alternatively, the seam used for the Furla bag is straight with tone-on-tone stitching primarily used on soft leather. Therefore, this helps us analyze that even though both brands claim to use original leather, Gucci leather is significantly sturdier and 100% pure due to its stitching technique.
HARDWARE AND ZIPPERS OF THE BAGS
If we take a closer look at the hardware, both Gucci and Furla bags come with golden hardware. Gucci hardware is a mix of polished gold and shiny silver GG clamps, taken from the Gucci archives, and Furla’s hardware is brass and gold plated hardware. Gold and brass clash again, resulting in the difference in price, where both are locks and must be pushed to the side to open. Both bags have an adjustable leather strap in the same color as the bag and recognizable gold metal elements. Besides, golden metal feet serve to protect the bottom of the bag.
The zippers used by Gucci deliver a high shine and polish for a smooth finish. Furla uses plastic or coil zippers that break in a short period, and even if one tooth breaks, it is nearly impossible to replace them. In terms of Lining, Gucci used a smooth satin fabric with patterns, while Furla used Microsuede fabric with an unfinished stitch. Lastly, the borders of the bags appear to be cut edges where two parts of leather skin are attached.
QUALITY CHECK BETWEEN LUXURY FASHION AND THE MASS-MARKET BRANDS
To summarize, the quality of Gucci leather is superior and durable compared to Furla. Both bags, however, did not have well-finished borders, which is the defining feature of their appearance. A notable difference between the two products is that Gucci might survive for a lifetime, whereas Furla will last five years or more.
However, both handbags are very similar in their Design, Aesthetics, and Functionality other than their price. Additionally, there are multiple high-end products from various luxury brands whose quality of craftsmanship is practically identical to fast fashion products. The point is that luxury fashion brands ought to be distinct from commercial fast fashion brands because luxury sells the labor of emotions and love, not consumerism.
Therefore, why spend $2500 on a bag when you could buy one for $430 with comparable quality?
Today, it is improbable to buy a forged Picasso painting in his studio. Therefore, what makes it okay for Fashion Heritage or sustainable clothes and accessories?
Most fashion PR agencies typically fabricate stories to promote fashion industries, creating consumers that have driven humanity into a frightening trajectory of consumerism. Corporate actions have destroyed the fashion heritage and the environment. However, luxury business status had drastically declined even before the pandemic, and Coronavirus worsened things and caused a 90 percent profit decline for the entire luxury fashion industry. The results are right in front of us, the Kim Kardashian West outfit from Met Gala 2021, where luxury has devolved into poor-quality crap. A second example is Sarah Jessica Parker’s humiliation for wearing a Forever 21 outfit on a set for the new Sex and the City web series. However, how is the Forever 21 dress radically different from an ensemble from the Spring-Summer 2021 Dior Ready-to-Wear collection?
Image: J Mayer/News photo.
As of the 2000s, there is no qualitative or stylistic difference between a $400 commercial product and a $2500 YSL, Gucci, or Dior product. The primary objective of keeping old master brand names alive is to preserve the heritage and create sustainable innovation in line with current trends. And it is utterly absurd to have Kering and LVMH bring the Hollywood sidelines, allowing Social Media Influencers to dominate the creative fashion industries.
The question is, when did Luxury Fashion become a stealing trash hole? What does the future hold for the Fashion Industry? Or are we moving into the Mass Market, aka, the Commercial Age?
Typically, luxury products are bought by the wealthy, but their high price tags were never the driving force of luxury fashion. Many highly talented fashion designers such as Thierry Mugler, Alexander Mcqueen, and Guccio Gucci did not come from wealthy backgrounds; instead, their talent and drive for art led them to give what the fashion industry demanded. Today, brands strive to promote brand inclusion, but this does not necessarily mean they have to lose their identity. Fashion is a form of art that communicates personal human emotions. Fashion shapes Identities. And for luxury fashion to make a meaningful difference, it must respect the origins of Art and Fashion. They must recognize the lack of true potential talents in the industry; to be INCLUSIVE, they must employ candidates based on their skills rather than their ethnicity or nationality!!
Lastly, a few emerging global designers are genuinely dedicated to the labor of love and emotion while keeping the environment and the broader community in perspective. Perhaps we should encourage these rising talents in the Fashion Industry instead of supporting the highly profit-driven businesses named after dead masters who lost their sense of Identity.