Apparently, the dilemma of whether you should only highlight a plus from one collection and abandon things that you dislike does not only strike the journalist.
Amidst the
enormous storm of New York Fashion Week news in our feed, a question persists:
what if I hate a particular collection? That very same question perhaps crosses
the mind of the front row citizens and fashion journalists in attendance,
plenty of which decides to talk about the highs and disregard the lows. Upon my
observation, constant absence of discussions about particular brand are
actually signals that it is widely unloved.
Sad, isn’t
it?
I am simply
curious of what is really going on in the mind of the show-goers and what are
the discussions off the record when it comes to something we hate. Let’s face it,
fashion industry has been long regarded as a bitchy source, where people who
work in it slowly become the devil who wears Prada (although in reality, only a
handful REALLY wears Prada – the rest should crawl up to reach the high ladder
to afford one). So why are almost all reviews reflect something positive? Where
are the sharp opinions and snarky commentaries for the designers?
On a
logical note, designers who have created collections that result in millions of
dollars must have adequate skills NOT to screw up and design badly. They have
the power as well, as performed by some designers who dislike negative
commentary from the journalists. They can delete you from the invitees list or
place you somewhere far far away that only the heads of the models are visible.
Deletion from the invitation list is probably not so bad, when compared to the
brand’s decision for discontinuing their advertisement agreement with the
related publication.
Horrible,
isn’t it?
And
apparently the bloggers, who now count themselves as the influential
commentators and taste makers, continue to proclaim their love for almost all
shows they are invited to. I am both a blogger and a journalist, albeit not
(yet?) a wildly popular one, but somehow I sense this kind of wrong doings in
terms of criticism in fashion. It should be fun, yes, but at the same time I
feel that it should be democratic and open for discussion.
From my own
experience, I have once tweeted something blatantly negative about certain
collection of the house and someone, a local designer, fired back at me by
pretty much saying that I am no expert thus I have no legibility to give such
opinion. Really? Because to me, when the so-called experts of fashion cannot
really say and explain what’s going on, then someone who is free from
obligation to obey any advertisement deal has the right to sound their
opinion. When the fashion journalists are flocking to make the brands look
good, I think it is not such a bad thing to deliver criticism in my own way and
praising in my own way, too. I can give some stupid shitty sentences to
describe a collection, but that is probably just my way of learning.
Or not?
If that is
really not, then I will just resume my fashion writing 101 from the
reputable style.com. I hopefully will find my way of explaining my lack of
understanding in the whole à la mode universe.
photo is from style.com (Proenza Schouler SS14)
P.S: I admire the bravery of Robin Givhan (and celebrate her return to fashion journalism) to write something honest and at the same time, thoughtful regarding the mess creative confusion at Rodarte.
