In the spring of 2020, millions of people were locked up at the same time and learned the new words “pandemic” and “isolation”. Life will not be the same, but no one can predict the future with accuracy. Tourism, entertainment and the fashion industry risk substantial losses. Analysts at McKinsey and The Business of Fashion promise a record drop in the retail market at the level of the recession during World War II. Does this mean that we will stop buying beautiful evening dresses? Or, conversely, hit the hedonistic consumption, as in the 1920s? What brands will stay afloat and what fate awaits endless fashion shows? Will an era of more honest, authentic, inclusive fashion await us? We got acquainted with the opinion of experts and made our forecast about the future of the fashion industry after the epidemic.
Masks will become our everyday accessory
During the pandemic, the mask became a necessary means of protection and a kind of unspoken symbol of respect for others. In many countries reliable masks with filters are no longer available, and their simplest or home-made versions, as you know, do not protect masks from the carrier virus, but can prevent people from being infected. In the new reality of the mask, we will have to wear a few more months, so it is not surprising that giants such as Louis Vuitton and Zara took up the production of this accessory. At the moment this is a charity event, but we already expect that calfskin masks with logos will be introduced in the sale, and then masks with rhinestones, pearls, bows and ruffles. So in summer, we will select the same earrings to the color of the mask, and even less often buy lipstick.
The luxury market is waiting for a record drop
On the first day after quarantine, the Hermès boutique in Guangzhou boasted a record revenue of nearly $ 3 million, setting a record for luxury retail sales in China. But this case is more likely to be considered as an exception than as a post-quarantine trend: the wealthy clients of the richest Chinese province still decided to release shopping zest and cheerfully purchased goods from one of the highest quality and iconic luxury brands. Such happiness does not shine for the competitors of Hermès: according to the forecasts of Bain & Co. analysts, the luxury market expects a record drop of up to 40%. Impending problems in the economies of countries entail a logical decrease in the purchasing power of the population, and luxury clothing, footwear and accessories are not among the essential goods.
Even if we take into account affordable brands, their profits are likely to decrease noticeably due to the fact that many of us will have to cut our shopping list to the very heart of our loved ones: some will have bags, some will dresses, someone has jewelry.
Fashion shows will go online
The fashion industry is definitely facing cutbacks. It is not entirely clear what fate awaits the shows of the cruise collections to be held this summer. The Council of Fashion Designers of America has already confirmed that the June shows in New York are canceled, and recommended that European designers also do not host any fashion shows this summer. Following this, the British Fashion Council announced that it would combine displays of women’s and men’s collections on one gender-neutral platform and convert them into an online show format. From Italian designers, as you might guess, you should expect a similar answer. Now it remains only to guess in what form the next haute couture collections will be shown to us within the framework of high fashion weeks and should we expect the return of standard fashion shows in September. Designer Giorgio Armani addressed the audience with an open letter, in which he advised to drastically reduce the number of seasonal impressions and “slow down”. Perhaps it would be worth listening to the maestro!
Fashionable photoshoots will go online … or just in economy mode
Previously, it seemed that magazine photography needed a world-class photographer, a well-known model and full-time stylist of a glossy magazine, as well as transport for all of the above, an expensive hotel and Paris avenues that were blocked for this occasion. Now, during a pandemic, it turns out that just a model and a smartphone are enough for shooting, because the focus is still on clothes, and not the grandeur of the phenomenon itself. Marc Jacobs, for example, asked his employees to send him home pictures in Marc Jacobs clothes and share his favorite things from the collections. And if you go to Instagram Working From Home Fits, or “Images for working from home”, then make sure that any of us can be a model.
Glossy magazines will start writing less about fashion and more about life
Over the past few years, fashion journalism has moved away from the dictatorship of trends towards the so-called freedom of tastes. In the new liberal world, trends no longer fulfill the function of certain dictatorial decrees in the spirit of “everybody wears pencil skirts this summer, so send all the other models to the far shelf of the wardrobe,” and journalists are increasingly trying to convey the attractiveness of new products through lifestyle rather than through the logic of rules and restrictions. Not to mention the fact that the presence of only fashionable content in the magazine significantly reduces its value for the reader, because, in addition to dresses and creams, we are also interested in current events in modern society. Characteristically, the gloss keeps its finger on the pulse of the events: April and May covers confirm that more and more publications are starting to raise environmental and social issues and stop being afraid of the virus, and with it the crisis as some completely glamorous topics.
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