1. T
he word ‘disruptor’ has fast entered the
world of marketing and communication
lexicon and transcended to noun rather
than verb. Technology has been making our lives
easier to navigate, accommodate and hook up,
but could it help to dress us too? The business of
fashion is facing a massive disruption of its own –
not by outsiders but by juggernauts of the
industry itself: Tom Ford and Christopher Bailey.
‘We have been living with a fashion calendar
and system that is from another era,’ says Ford.
‘Our customers today want a collection that is
immediately available.’ Elegant words from an
equally elegant man, but what exactly does it
mean to the likes of you and I?
To understand the how, we have to first
understand the why of fashion shows happening
six months prior to clothes being available in retail
outlets. Originally designed as being customer-
and industry-focused events only, they saw fashion
editors, customers and buyers all seated #frow
in varying degrees of importance and most often
dressed in loaned outfits by that particular
designer – poised to take notes and plot how to get
that one ‘IT’ item of the season into their editorial
pages or cocktail wardrobe before anyone else.
Air kissing and sipping sponsored cocktails
between shows is merely a façade, darling; it’s
when the show’s over that the gloves come off to
get that all important jacket for this model/actor to
wear. Having it first is all that counts in fashion.
Everything about the way we shop now will
look a whole lot different in the coming months.
Millennials are the proverbial wagging fashion dog
these days, with immediate gratification being the
driver. Brands’ often convoluted marketing
campaigns are inching closer and closer to
consumers first, using ‘traditional’ online
platforms like Facebook, Instagram or even
Twitter’s live-streaming app (New York Fashion
Week) and then trying to stay one step ahead of
the herd by integrating newer platforms like
AppleTV (Burberry), Periscope (Tommy Hilfiger),
Snapchat (Vera Wang) and Vine to spread the
fashion gospel to the masses. When it comes to
leading the pack, kudos for out-of-the-box thinking
goes to British designer JW Anderson, who turned
to the gay hook-up app Grindr, with massive
engagement following. Indeed, digital and social
media will start to reach new levels of importance
Man Alive
in driving sales. The days of coveting that sexy
pea coat in a magazine or jacket on social media,
and then spending the next six months waiting, or
the horrors of even growing bored having to
wait so long, will be over.
More importantly, runway shows will be
geared to generate more online content, thus
making them bigger, more celebrity- and concept-
driven than ever before. Or in the case of Tom
Ford’s recent Spring ’16 collection when he
tapped fashion icon Lady Gaga to appear in the
film, a runway video of the collection shot by Nick
Knight and shared among millions of viewers,
instantly foregoing a show altogether. But the
notion of ‘see now, wear now’ means collections
will soon become available immediately online
just as that last spotlight has dropped and models
have all plopped into the backseats of waiting
limos. But wait, this means the business of fast or
disposable fashion brands will have to adjust too as
high-end brands now compete head-to-toe for the
aspirational, yet sometimes financially challenged
consumer, doesn’t it?
The King of Fashion is dead. Long
live the King.
MAn Alive
voice
Everything about
the way we
shop now will
look a whole lot
different in the
coming months
Disrupting
the Business
of Fashion
Words by Grant Davison
illustrationsbychrisslabber/csdesign&illustration
gqstyle • autumn/winteR • 2016/ GQ.co.za 93
GQStyle9_Voice Man Alive.indd 93 2016/04/26 8:35 AM