Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Yves Saint Laurent 1962 Video


Found this video at The Moment and wanted to share it not only to commemorate the passing of one the greatest designers, but to also show how the fashion industry has since changed.

I found Edmonde Charles-Roux's comments to be very insightful into some of the fashion industry's mentalities during the 60s:

But nothing can be copied... nothing that's good can be copied.

The future of fashion? Ready-to-wear? No. It'll always be creation, the creation of haute couture that ready-to-wear can use.

How times have changed! Today, brands 'borrow' inspiration from the high fashion designers - some blatantly, some plain ugly, some I kind of like - and knock-off designer handbags are a thriving industry in itself.

As for the haute couture industry, I don't have any hard facts, but it's not hard to see that haute couture today doesn't dictate the fashion trends as much as it did forty years ago. Ready-to-wear takes it inspiration from a vast assortment of sources, from all directions in the fashion chain, including street fashion.

In contrast to Edmone's comments, the mid 60s was also a time where styles were becoming much simpler (think shift dresses) and therefore, much easier to copy. Additionally, this was a time where trends were being set from all types of designers (think Mary Quant).

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