Teri Agins's The End Of Fashion

There is something more in creating strong fashion brand than just marketing

With her book ‘The End of Fashion’, long time New York Times fashion editor, Teri Agins makes a statement concerning the present zeitgeist in fashion marketing. She argues thriving in the field of fashion is not anymore about the designing itself, rather building a brand, which sells. Shifting away from the core competence and giving more weight to marketing efforts would be the key to success in her future of fashion. (Agins, 1999) Agins is obviously not completely off the mark, but I still would like to propose my divergent opinion drawing on the theories of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu.

Bourdieu has touched the subject of fashion in several of his writings (Bourdieu, 1975; 1984; 1995), yet his contribution to the observation of fashion is most illustratively present in ‘The Field
Take Pyrex Vision and Astrid Andersen, two emerging labels representing sportswear-influenced menswear, both basking in favor of buyers. Virgil Abloh, the designer behind American Pyrex Vision is a shop owner and publicist of hip hop superstar Kanye West. He uses classic sportswear garments, such as Champion mesh shorts and Ralph Lauren Rugby flannel shirts as a canvases for printing his brand name and selling them for a good premium. As a marketing man he takes advantage of his position as a publicist in creating buzz for the label. Among others, his conspicuous marketing program includes throwing a party at Paris Fashion Week. Astrid Andersen is a Danish born Royal College of the Art London graduate, whose collections have received praise in the form of press and awards. She combines luxurious fabrics to creative tailoring of sportswear silhouettes. Being strictly design-driven and putting all her resources to producing samples she has very little funds or time for marketing