Yesterday's edition of
WWD rounded up some of the best fashion designers in the world and asked them to turn their creative brains towards fixing a problem that is bigger than even the most opulent of ball gowns: the broken economy. The trade bible solicited solutions for the latest crisis and received responses that ranged from the novel (Karl Lagerfeld) to the ridiculous (Markus Lupfer), with most designers calling for a return to creativity.
In the spirit of the Occupy Protests, and frankly just for funsies, we decided to ask
award winning , revolutionary Marxist economist
Rick Kuhn to assess some of the designers' suggestions, with surprising results. It turns out Manolo Blahnik is a closet socialist, while Hussein Chalayan, usually acclaimed for his intellectualism, is failing to think of the 99%.
Manolo Blahnik:
"Designers should do a good product that lasts, something solid, well-done and handmade if possible. Women invest in good things. The days of cheap things and gimmicks are over. These are new times, different times. You need to buy something that lasts."
The Marxist response: Great suggestions for a society where the purpose of production is to satisfy human needs, rather than to make profits. That’s not capitalism. If followed today, this suggestion would drive most of the fashion industry, so dependent on seasonal redundancy, out of business.
Markus Lupfer:
"Peace, Love and Sequins! It's all about creating jobs. The government should introduce a quota where companies have to produce a certain percentage within their own country in order to create jobs, and in the meantime sequins for everyone!"
The Marxist response: Gross nationalism: create jobs for people here and stuff the rest of the world. If other countries do the same it’s a less than zero sum game that will make everyone poorer. You can’t eat sequins.
Hussein Chalayan:
"In a way, the crisis always comes from the Western world because we all live beyond our means, as in houses we can't afford. And all those wars that have cost billions. Imagine if that money was funneled into building infrastructure? You could reconfigure Africa. A lot of young people don't know the value of money. Maybe we need to be more independent from a young age.
We are generally a bit too materialistic. It's the opposite of what a designer should tell you. Designers always try to sell more, but I think there's something to be said for timelessness. The idea that we define our identity through what we own is an old-fashioned way of thinking."
The Marxist response: If by “we” Hussein means the 1% with economic and political power who live off the labour of the vast majority (in the west and the rest of the world) he’s half right. They are responsible for the waste of resources and lives that are a necessary feature of capitalism. Expropriate the expropriators! But the problem is certainly not that ordinary folk consume too much.
Roberto Cavalli:
"The solution is to come up with new ideas, novelty concepts. Those who can spend continue to spend. If there is precious craftsmanship in a product, those customers won't look at the price. If its special and unique, fashion is like an artwork, a painting there to be collected."
The Marxist response: Precious Roberto’s suggestion amounts to a conservative injunction to work harder and hope for the best. If you’re a worker who is unemployed or whose wage is being cut no amount of novelty will induce you to buy that new Cavalli kaftan.
Donatella Versace:
"I believe that in tough times it is still important, more important than ever actually, to look your best. It is a way of boosting your confidence and the confidence others have in you."
The Marxist response: Yes Donatella, if you have to wear rags, be proud, select your rags with care. But the kind of confidence that matters under capitalism is not individual, it is collective: business confidence, the herd mentality of capitalists driven ultimately by their expectations of profits and their other crude class interests.
Karl Lagerfeld
"I think they should make a tax so that when you earn a certain amount of money, you have to spend a certain amount on shopping. To buy whatever. And that way, we create tons of jobs. I think its a good idea. What I hate is people with a lot of money who don't spend it."
The Marxist response: The hoarding of money during economic crises is, as Karl recognises, part of the problem. But as another Karl pointed out, capitalism is production for profit. This suggestion won’t do anything to raise profit rates or, the real alternative, get rid of capitalism. On the other hand, maybe even greater, stomach-churning conspicuous consumption by the rich might incite more of the vast majority of people who are workers to take revolutionary action, or at least to resist attacks on our living standards.