This is a topic i am very familiar with after watching numerous show studio panels on how hard pressed designers are. the endless cycle of the fashion schedule is looking like an industry that is eating its own tail. And while someone like Alaïa can step away and create whenever he wants, everyone doing that would cause systemic anarchy and result in the customer and the buyer having no control or any sense of steadiness.
Raf Simons left Dior citing the large and ever-growing pressures of a house on all the traditional schedules, those being 2 couture shows, 2 seasonal shows, a cruise or resort and a pre-fall. He also had no creative control over the advertising or who wore the clothes etc. apart from letting designers have their time, its also important to entrust them with a vision and trust it. Allesandro Michele at Gucci was given this opportunity and it resulted in a 100% increase in millennial online spending. Turnovers such as this are impossible to deny.
Fashion’s relentless cycle is chewing up and spitting out designers who may not have a large team or the financial resources to sustain themselves in a market with far too many clothes and far too many designers fighting for their own brand in a sea of the same.
