We attended the European Designer Fashion Summit (14–15 April) in Barcelona, where the European fashion industry discussed desire, sustainability and competition from fast fashion. Between AI, craftsmanship to be defended and the long shadow of China, let’s explore the themes that emerged
by Domenico Casoria
Before delving into the challenges European fashion must address, we should start with what is written in the DNA of an entire sector: desire as infrastructure. This was emphasised by the French philosopher and anthropologist Gilles Lipovetsky at the European Designer Fashion Summit, the event that brought together some of the sector’s most authoritative voices in Barcelona, which we attended on 14 and 15 April. “Fashion is a European invention,” says Lipovetsky. At the end of the 19th century, he continues, “there was no sense of responsibility. Everything connected with fashion was based on a sense of frivolity.”
Desire as infrastructure
Today, clearly, the approach has changed, but the question remains: is fashion compatible with sustainability (and with desire)? According to Lipovetsky, no. “Fashion is play and exploration. Why do we change our clothes? There is no real need to change an outfit, other than that linked to personal pleasure. There is a lack of compatibility between fashion and sustainability, which can only be reduced but not entirely eliminated.” An emotional and cultural infrastructure, in a sense, that Europe has built up over the centuries, transforming clothing into a marker of identity. But desire has never been an individual impulse. Rather, it is the direct result of a series of intertwining elements: art, craftsmanship, storytelling. Interconnections that are more necessary today than ever. “The liaison between art and fashion is still necessary for fashion itself.
An artistic director is no longer just a designer, but aims to be a ‘creator’ in every sense. This is the case with Karl Lagerfeld, who gave Chanel an identity. Not just clothes, but a global offering and a vision,” Lipovetsky continues. At the core, once again, is desire. “There is this constant hybridisation; in fact, it has always been there: in the 1950s, it was more minimalist, but still present. When a customer today buys a piece from the collaboration between Louis Vuitton and Murakami or Jeff Koons, she is buying a work of art that breaks down barriers in every sense.” One that restores meaning to the collections, making the consumer feel part of a system and not just a purchasing cycle.
The long arm of fast fashion
That desire, however, is now under threat. Above all, from fast fashion, which has learned to mimic it, to create an illusion of immediate access and low-cost participation in the language of fashion, at least from a communicative perspective. Collaborations with major creators, ‘event’ capsule collections, pop-ups that exist solely to be photographed: all of this constructs a different kind of desire – one that is faster, more horizontal, more performative. A different kind of infrastructure. One that does not stem from heritage, that does not construct meanings, that seeks visibility. All against the backdrop of the unknown factor that is China. Capable of setting up a market that scales, accelerates, replicates and distributes.
For Lipovetsky, the China of tomorrow could dominate the teenage market, could overtake Europe in fast fashion, and could win on quantity. But it will not be able to compete on the culture of desire, because we are talking about a characteristic that is inherited and cannot be reproduced. Of course, Europe is no longer hegemonic, but it remains the only place where desire is still a historical, aesthetic, artisanal reality. A place of alternative possibilities. Everyone, however, agrees: diversification is the right word, bringing value back to the local, to storytelling, to cooperation between artisans and creatives, to the ability to build worlds and not just products. Only in this way can dear old Europe make its voice heard once more.
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