This is embarrassing. This is actually terribly embarrassing. And the culprit will have to step forward soon.
There were times when most of us thought famous fashion designers only pretended they hated each other, but in reality they would go out to dinner every night all together and, before the new season arrived, they would even amicably sit around a table and decide which colours, silhouettes and accessories were going to be fashionable. Though such an idea was absurd, it was reinforced when the collections were unveiled and similar looks appeared on very different runways.
Friendly meetings do not happen in reality, but trend agencies and forecasters suggest specific themes, colour palettes and inspirations, ending up playing silly tricks on many designers who, at times, end up referencing the same artist, architect or exhibition. But what happened recently is simply ridiculous.
During New York Fashion Week, on Rodarte's runway we saw evening gowns with digital prints of the Death Star, the twin suns on Tatooine, Luke Skywalker, C-3PO and R2-D2, and Yoda.
Yesterday in London Darth Vader's mask reappeared on 7 (some in a Darth Maul palette) designs on Preen's runway. Now here we have a huge problem. First of all there is the same theme - Star Wars - in two different collections, even though it looks like Rodarte went for the good and Preen for the bad characters. This may be the fault of a lazy trend agency/forecaster who managed to convince them Star Wars is cool (yes, it is, but read the second point before judging).
The second problem is more vast than the first actually. Between 2009 and 2013 High Street retailer H&M came up with different Star Wars collections (see last pic in this post with images taken from eBay), that included unisex sweaters with Darth Vader and a T-shirt dress with a print of the original poster for the first film.
The retailer also did quite a few kids clothes with Star Wars prints, and last year they released a woman's T-shirt with the mask of Darth Vader on a fluo pink background. What looked like (more or less) the same faded image of the mask was replicated on Preen's tops, shirt and silk dresses, at times mixed with their signature geometrical print.
This is where we do have a serious fashion problem: while it's the High Street retailer that should be immorally copying designers and not the other way round, somebody should be explaining designers that consumers may be tempted to buy a cheap garment with a Star Wars print, right because it's a cheap and affordable garment, but things may change when that same shirt/dress/top costs a lot more and obtains the same effects.
If somebody could volunteer to explain such simple concepts to fashion designers and also remind them their role is about bringing innovation into garments and not reproducing and replicating items we do not need, things would be much better and our planet would also be less polluted.
In the meantime, while we wait for the trend agency/forecaster responsible for this embarrassing mess to step forward, consumers who bought Star Wars designs at H&M can be very happy: between 2009 and last year you spent very little for a look that will be trendy even in the Autumn/Winter 2014-2015 season. Now that's what I call an investment.
PS Very keen to see if in Milan or Paris designers will come up with T-shirts with Han Solo, Boba Fett or the Stormtroopers (well, the Stormtroopers actually were also part of the Preen show as they were stationed at the exit providing photo opportunities for many fashionistas, so better go for Boba Fett or Han Solo). My bets are on Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy, what about yours?
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