6 ms·

Fashion design appeared (and maybe still appears) to be one those areas where one could easily gain transcending fame and notoriety; catering to elites. Contra

by jjoe 6y ago

Fashion design appeared (and maybe still appears) to be one those areas where one could easily gain transcending fame and notoriety; catering to elites. Contrasting it to software or an app (design), the thing could be used by millions and barely anyone knows who you are. Maybe because fashion designers themselves get to appear on stage and cement their face in everyone's consciousness? Imagine if your software or app would display you, the designer, each time someone starts it up... Hmmm Mark Zuckerberg comes to mind. The default "friend" for each new facebook account... I guess I answered my own question?

agumonkey 6y ago
Art (if one consider fashion art is debatable, but it entails artistic qualities, aesthetics, impressions, emotions) appeals to different part of humans. Or if you will Pierre Cardin's and peers effect is more around what Steve Jobs / Apple was in the tech world. Not utility first .. but something else.
erwan 6y ago
Fashion is hardly an industry where it is easy to achieve fame or success, let alone "immortal" notoriety like Lagerfeld or Cardin. However, it is true that countries with a lot of luxury fashion houses are more likely to consider fashion as a proper art form than not. That's an important distinction from software. Successful designers are artists and that accounts for something in the way their legacy is celebrated.
kolinko 6y ago
Naming companies with founder's name fell out of (ekhm) fashion in business. It used to be Bell, Ford, Disney, Helwett&Packard, now it's Apple, Google, Facebook. Still, I'd bet an average person knows more famous visionaire/entrepreneur people (like Jobs and Gates) than famous fashion designers.
- the_local_host 6y ago
  > I'd bet an average person knows more famous [visionary]/entrepreneur people (like Jobs and Gates) than famous fashion designers. I doubt that's the case. Popular music cites eponymous fashion brands regularly. Listeners might not know what the actual person looks like, but they'd know the products and the names.
- occamrazor 6y ago
  Armani, Chanel, Dior, Lagerfeld, Valentino, Versace These are the first names that came to my mind. I guess a large majority of people have heard them.
  - usrusr 6y ago
    And yet I see faces in my mind when reading Apple, Google, Facebook, but no faces when reading Armani, Dior, Versace. Not even if I try. Of course that's because I'm far more interested web tech than in the fashion establishment. Would be interesting to probe for "brand/face recognition" with people who aren't interested in either, e.g. car or spectator sports nerds.
qwerty456127 6y ago
Because fashion stuff has little to no value itself, the whole 99.9% price is the brand/name. As a fashion designer you become famous first then sell just that if you want to earn big money.
- yesplorer 6y ago
  99% of the price of Microsoft Office is just the brand name as well.
  - qwerty456127 6y ago
    Not really. And everybody knows Microsoft anyway.
  - spockz 6y ago
    Is it though? I see whole corporations running in office. Most communication goes through outlook and PowerPoint. I’ve seen people building intricate and bespoke interfaces in Access with only later the data storage layer removed from access internal to ms sql; whole graphs and pivot tables created from many data sources in excel, and even finite state machine simulators integrating real time Prometheus dashboards. Somehow the office suite is extremely powerful and it works and integrates with many things. It may not be pretty but I’ve seen many non(CS)-programmer deliver quite some business value with it.
- jsinai 6y ago
  It may have “little to no value” for some, but to others, perhaps many, there is plenty of value. Why else would famous fashion designers and the entire fashion industry be worth so much? It’s easy to overlook the value but from a basic and utilitarian perspective, the value begins with the quality of materials and the cuts of the fabric. This is not necessarily trivial and takes someone who is skilled with the trade to understand and pioneer. It’s equivalent to a highly skilled carpenter who makes high quality and special furniture. And eventually new techniques, cuts and fabrics will make it to the mainstream. If this sounds far fetched, some high end fashion (read: ~$150-300 for a sweater) is all about the quality of fabric and the attention to detail in the fit. These items will usually feel better, fit better and last longer. You could think of it as the difference in quality and experience between a Mercedes-Benz and a Toyota. Sure MB probably has much higher markup, but the base cost represents much greater substance as well. Then there is novelty and this doesn’t necessarily have much to do with the clothes you would wear daily. Fashion designers are artists and the runway shows are often about novel displays in colour, shape and fabric. That’s kind of like a show. People who buy these clothes are making a statement and the markup is very much a reflection of the scarcity of these items. Like a limited edition watch or a very very expensive charity dinner with someone famous.

by jjoe 6y ago

agumonkey 6y ago

Art (if one consider fashion art is debatable, but it entails artistic qualities, aesthetics, impressions, emotions) appeals to different part of humans. Or if you will Pierre Cardin's and peers effect is more around what Steve Jobs / Apple was in the tech world. Not utility first .. but something else.

erwan 6y ago

Fashion is hardly an industry where it is easy to achieve fame or success, let alone "immortal" notoriety like Lagerfeld or Cardin. However, it is true that countries with a lot of luxury fashion houses are more likely to consider fashion as a proper art form than not. That's an important distinction from software. Successful designers are artists and that accounts for something in the way their legacy is celebrated.

kolinko 6y ago

Naming companies with founder's name fell out of (ekhm) fashion in business. It used to be Bell, Ford, Disney, Helwett&Packard, now it's Apple, Google, Facebook. Still, I'd bet an average person knows more famous visionaire/entrepreneur people (like Jobs and Gates) than famous fashion designers.

the_local_host 6y ago
> I'd bet an average person knows more famous [visionary]/entrepreneur people (like Jobs and Gates) than famous fashion designers. I doubt that's the case. Popular music cites eponymous fashion brands regularly. Listeners might not know what the actual person looks like, but they'd know the products and the names.
occamrazor 6y ago
Armani, Chanel, Dior, Lagerfeld, Valentino, Versace These are the first names that came to my mind. I guess a large majority of people have heard them.
- usrusr 6y ago
  And yet I see faces in my mind when reading Apple, Google, Facebook, but no faces when reading Armani, Dior, Versace. Not even if I try. Of course that's because I'm far more interested web tech than in the fashion establishment. Would be interesting to probe for "brand/face recognition" with people who aren't interested in either, e.g. car or spectator sports nerds.

qwerty456127 6y ago

Because fashion stuff has little to no value itself, the whole 99.9% price is the brand/name. As a fashion designer you become famous first then sell just that if you want to earn big money.

yesplorer 6y ago
99% of the price of Microsoft Office is just the brand name as well.
- qwerty456127 6y ago
  Not really. And everybody knows Microsoft anyway.
- spockz 6y ago
  Is it though? I see whole corporations running in office. Most communication goes through outlook and PowerPoint. I’ve seen people building intricate and bespoke interfaces in Access with only later the data storage layer removed from access internal to ms sql; whole graphs and pivot tables created from many data sources in excel, and even finite state machine simulators integrating real time Prometheus dashboards. Somehow the office suite is extremely powerful and it works and integrates with many things. It may not be pretty but I’ve seen many non(CS)-programmer deliver quite some business value with it.
jsinai 6y ago
It may have “little to no value” for some, but to others, perhaps many, there is plenty of value. Why else would famous fashion designers and the entire fashion industry be worth so much? It’s easy to overlook the value but from a basic and utilitarian perspective, the value begins with the quality of materials and the cuts of the fabric. This is not necessarily trivial and takes someone who is skilled with the trade to understand and pioneer. It’s equivalent to a highly skilled carpenter who makes high quality and special furniture. And eventually new techniques, cuts and fabrics will make it to the mainstream. If this sounds far fetched, some high end fashion (read: ~$150-300 for a sweater) is all about the quality of fabric and the attention to detail in the fit. These items will usually feel better, fit better and last longer. You could think of it as the difference in quality and experience between a Mercedes-Benz and a Toyota. Sure MB probably has much higher markup, but the base cost represents much greater substance as well. Then there is novelty and this doesn’t necessarily have much to do with the clothes you would wear daily. Fashion designers are artists and the runway shows are often about novel displays in colour, shape and fabric. That’s kind of like a show. People who buy these clothes are making a statement and the markup is very much a reflection of the scarcity of these items. Like a limited edition watch or a very very expensive charity dinner with someone famous.