F2F Class Notes (Lily) [R]

In the 2006 film version of The Devil Wears Prada, Miranda Priestly, played by Meryl Streep, scolds her unattractive assistant imagining that high fashion doesn’t affect her. Priestly explains how the deep blue color of the assistant’s sweater descended over the years from fashion shows to department stores and to the bargain bin in which the poor girl doubtless found in her garment.

This top-down conception of the fashion business couldn’t be more out of date or at odds with the feverish world describe in Overdressed, Elizabeth Cline’s three year indictment of “fast fashion”. In the last decade or so, advances in technology have allowed mass-market levels, such as Zara, HM and Uniqlo to react to trends more quickly and anticipate demand more precisely. Quicker turnarounds mean less wasted inventory, more frequent releases, and more profit. These labels encourage style-conscious consumers to see clothes as disposable- meant to last only a wash or two, although they don’t advertise that- and to renew their wardrobe every few weeks. By offering on-trend items at dirt-cheap prices, Cline argues, these brands have hijacked fashion cycles, shaking an industry long accustomed to a seasonal pace.

The victims of this revolution, of course, are not limited to designers. For HM to offer a 5.95 knit miniskirt in all its 2300 plus stores around the world, it must rely on low wage overseas labor, order in volumes that strain natural resources, and use massive amount of harmful chemicals.