Fashion Forum

An interesting piece on the reasons behind the collaborations;

From Denimology:

Gucci Group are threatening to ditch both Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney if they don't produce profits this year. Which has resulted in both designers entering into collaborations with well known retailers to enhance their profiles. Stella McCartney has recently announced that she is to team up with Notify Jeans to create a denim collection for Summer 2008. The jeans that Stella created for Chloe were popular with models like Kate Moss and Daria Werbowy so it will be interesting to see the results of this new collaboration.

ohhhh well that explains it then- she did it out of sheer despiration.

From the blog by Ren

In the high end world of fashion where competition is fierce, new speculation has been growing that Gucci Group are putting pressure on their top designers to produce substantial profits. Both Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen are said to be expected to reach certain targets for the label or else they will be dumped.

This may be the rationale behind why so many designers are teaming up with retail giants and putting their names to large, established outlets. Doing so will enable them to have mass appeal and more exposure to the general public, and hopefully driving up their own sales.

Stella McCartney has been producing a flurry of collections lately in order to lift her profile, the latest of which is to be with Notify Jeans. Will we seen a similar rush from Alexander McQueen later in the year?

Is the pairing of designers with corporations decreasing the individuality and uniqueness of the clothing that was special because of its rarity? Or is the world shifting for the better - to enable the mass production of high end fashion available to everyone at a fraction of the cost? Have your say in our forums.

i think when its mass produced it ceases to be high end.