COVER STORY • 7 How Foreign Journalists View Japanese Fashion (2) Is Fashion Still A Status Symbol?

By Micaela Fila

the cultural and economic development occurs because people in general have became even stronger. Once the prob- less money to spend on clothing and lems of survival were resolved, the mid- also because to be in fashion is less of a dle class discovered the comforts and status symbol than before. In the West, luxuries of life. the new status symbols are holidays, According to the theory of Maslow on mobile phones, cars, etc. the hierarchy of one’s needs, the individ- ual, in addition to his or her physiological From Quality to Quantity necessities such as safety, love and esteem, will also hanker after the gratification of Now let us speak about fashion with self-achievement. Self-achievement is the regard to quality. Fifty years ago fashion fundamental incentive that makes people designers used materials of extraordinary acquire products. This theory clearly quality and nearly all their clothes were shows that a hierarchy amongst our needs made entirely by hand, ensuring both does exist and that from a previous need beautiful and excellent products. In we pass on to a subsequent one. Society those days, the middle classes bought an developed in such a way that the new overcoat for the winter and an outfit for social classes wanted to reinforce their an important occasion. Their wardrobes social status with ostentatious behavior were not as full as those of today because and by showing off their wealth. consumers had less necessity to “show As a consequence of this, fashion found off” – it was just enough ”to be there.” an important place in everyday life. Due The growth in the consumer society has to a further cultural development and revolutionized buyers’ mentality. The Author Micaela Fila new forms of advertising, fashion has concept of quality has slowly been been substantially boosted and has suc- replaced by the concept of quantity. Fashion buyers in Europe have changed ceeded in imposing itself, thus becoming Meanwhile, ready-to-wear fashion has their taste. In other words, fashion an important and powerful status symbol. become a mass phenomenon that is trends are developed on the basis of the Fifty years ago, fashion designers were within everyone’s reach. European con- country’s culture and style. Whereas in capable of proposing one style, from head sumers’ wardrobes have progressively got Japan, fashion is still a status symbol, the to foot, and those who could afford it larger and the need to communicate more ostentatious you are the better. adhered without the bat of an eyelid. through what one is wearing has Western fashion changes quickly. Now in the West, times have changed, increased. Advertising has played an Japanese fashion changes even more and consumers, after years of having fash- important role in spreading fashion rapidly. This is a consequence of the ion imposed, now prefer to think of ways through television, newspapers and the varying stages of maturity of consumers. of using the latest information to create a cinema. Also contributing to the trend Western fashion developed quickly after very personal style, e.g. wearing a pair of have been the success of fashion shows the memorable events of the 18th century jeans by a well-known designer with a in the main capitals of the fashion world and became re-dimensioned during the blouse likely bought in a flea market. and the icons proposed by opinion lead- 19th century. Over the past 100 years Why is this so? In Europe we are going ers, top models and the star system. the West has assimilated styles that were through a phase of contrasts – in certain first created by Parisian dressmakers of snobbish spheres, well developed cultural- How to Buy Dreams haute couture, then by Italian dressmakers ly, it is not considered chic to dress in in “high fashion houses” who after a Prada from head to foot because that Nowadays one does not dress to cover while passed on to ready-to-wear apparel would be too simple and well within the oneself, but as a means of communicat- and are now called ”fashion designers.” means of the nouveau riche. Therefore, ing one’s “self” to others, and so fashion The Western consumer has reached it is better to wear a Prada handbag with is a necessary and indispensable way of maturity. What does that mean? In a dress bought in a department store such helping us to express our personality and Europe, after World War II, there was as ZARA so as to show off one’s own per- of satisfying our dreams and yearnings. an economic and cultural growth which sonality and background. Bernard Arnault, the owner of started in the 1950s. As the years passed I point out, however, that all this LVMH, the most powerful group in the

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Photo: Japan Fashion Strategy Forum world selling luxury items, says: “We sell A Longing for Fashion dreams, not products.” A consequence of this is the increasing importance What is the situation in Japan? My attached to retailers and the relationship recent trip to Tokyo for the Japan with clients. One should not interrupt Fashion Week was an eye-opener. It is the dream of a person entering a shop to only 100 years since the wave of be (or seem) younger and more beauti- Western fashion swept through the ful, or more self-assured, more respected country. I noticed that consumers are and admired, and seeking self-satisfac- very eager to acquire “new styles” and tion, gratification and happiness. Post- “new identities.” The kimono has modern consumers, especially those of reigned for thousands of years, which the wealthier ranks because they are pur- probably limited the creative expression suing their desires and dreams, are great- of their personalities. This ”longing” for ly influenced by external stimuli. They fashion can be noticed amongst the are very interested in the latest and most young people on the streets of Tokyo, original ideas and this explains the dis- who are ”fashion victims” and, above all, loyalty of consumers compared to the have more buying power than their past. Desires and curiosity tend to be Western contemporaries. Everything attracted to areas that have not been tried goes – it just has to be ”fashion.” before (products, trademarks, shops). In Perhaps the moment for developing fact, today we speak of marketing experi- one’s personal style has not yet arrived ences meaning the necessity to offer new in the East. experiences rather than new products. Fashion is still a status symbol. This Philosopher Zigmund Bauman notes is exactly what Japanese designers that “while a need is always relative to should concentrate on for the home ‘something’ (i.e. a product or service), a market. Whereas everything has seem- desire is always relative to the person ingly already been done for the Western ‘me’.” And for this reason – Bauman market, it is an uphill climb. The win- continues – a desire remains insatiable Ne-net clothes unveiled during the 3rd Japan ners will be those who communicate and may never be fulfilled. Therefore, Fashion Week staged in September 2006 something that is really new, who knowing how to stimulate that desire, impose the style at the right moment which is often unexpressed (of beauty, the changes in progress due to globaliza- and at the right price, and who sell youth, being up-to-date, prestige, securi- tion. “The success of fashion houses," magnificent dreams together with their ty, success, feeling reassured), is the way says Domenico De Sole, chairman of the clothes. to make people “loyal” to a particular Tom Ford Group, “has come about due In the West, there are no prejudices, brand. There is also the case of a pur- to the quality of their products, their bars of any kind or chauvinism. As we chase made with forethought and in creativity, their innovation and their have seen, Western consumers are “dis- such a case the use of shopping experi- attention to detail, but it has been con- loyal.” They will willingly betray their ence is limited. This is valid for some solidated by the coherent and skilful cre- favorite brand as long as their desire to exceptional products (but they are not ation of the ’retail network’.” change is aroused. There is room for more than about 100) and for “fashion The retail network was conceived as a success for anyone who is able to enter victims.” There are also clients, particu- way to concentrate and realize the entire into the minds of consumers of the larly from the East or other up-and- trademark strategy – “the moment of Third Millennium, for anyone who can coming countries arriving in Europe truth,” as De Sole calls it. Shops selling stimulate the desire for clothing that we with shopping lists, who do not fall in just one trademark and in particular flag- do not need just to cover ourselves but line with this way of thinking. ships have become consumer areas not to express our personalities. Japanese only for the products themselves but designers such as Yamamoto Yohji, Importance of Retail above all everything that is linked to the Comme des Garçon’s Kawakubo Rei and unique and indispensable identity of the Miyake Issey have managed it. It is most likely that businesses dealing trademark. Brands such as Gucci, Prada, with worldwide fashion no longer have Armani, Tod’s, Versace, Ferragamo and to think in terms of products, but of the Zegna have created international net- Micaela Fila is an Italian fashion journalist, current lifestyle – it is necessary to take works under the banner of the globaliza- writing for Fashion Magazine and Obiettivo note of consumer desires and to observe tion of a lifestyle and culture. Moda.

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