Fashion curation and critique combine in conversation when FIT Director, Valerie Steele, and award-winning Washington Post journalist, Robin Givhan, discuss power dynamics in the fashion system for Vestoj’s newest online issue, “On Power.” Facilitated by Dr. Lucy Collins, their dialogue comments on the range of positions within the industry and the various power structures therein.

As Valerie Steele notes, the fashion system is made up of many players who have a complex net of relationships. Within their separate fields, each player has a certain amount of power depending upon their professional position and their connections within their particular field and others. An immediately obvious example, Steele and Givhan discuss the phenomenal Anna Wintour, whose position as editor-in-chief of American Vogue places her in a circle of other highly influential figures. Though Vogue continues to be one of the most celebrated fashion publications worldwide, it is her immense level of influence that makes Anna Wintour an indispensible power-player within the fashion system.

Major fashion magazines and websites can dictate trends and even direct consumers to retail locations and sites like net a porter where they can buy high fashion designs of the season. For consumers with a smaller budget, many publications (Lucky comes to mind) present 'splurge or steal' articles that show readers where they can find the look of the moment for less.

Power is also exchanged between designers, manufacturers and consumers. Designs are only as effective as their execution, which is determined by the skill of manufacturers and the materials at their disposal. While designers have the freedom to create, the success or failure of their products is ultimately in the hands of the consumer. Though consumers often feel limited or even victimized by fashion, they have the power to choose whether to buy a certain style, support a specific publication or endorse a kind of 'look' - Steele quotes Dior who famously said, "the designers propose, but the ladies dispose." The public has much more power over fashion than they realize, but this fact is carefully concealed by the industry to create the opposite impression. 

There are other hidden power players in the fashion system whose choices shape the future of fashion, such as buyers and trend forecasters. The article touches on these players only briefly, but buyers have the power to decide what looks will even make it into stores, based on current trends and the social climate that surrounds them. It is buyers who influence the type of fabric, colors and patterns that will inevitably appear in the coming seasons. Likewise, trend forecasters take into account the current looks in fashion capitals around the world and advise retail corporations on future designs.

Stylists for celebrity personalities and publications have a great deal of power when it comes to popularizing a look. The amount of power that these individuals have is based on their level of visibility in the media and the social importance of their clientele. To a degree, this power also extends to style bloggers; both Valerie and Robin agree that bloggers are only as powerful as their presence in the industry - though they can contribute their opinions, not all of them are of importance.

There appears to be a hierarchy of power within the design community as well. While the big names like Ralph Lauren or Giorgio Armani have the financial ability to buy up advertisement real estate, their power is different from designers known for their artistic innovation. Which is better is open to speculation, but there is a significant amount of power in having the freedom to create what you want. Popular brands like Guess and Armani may have deep pockets, but they are also pigeonholed into creating only a certain type of product. Some designers have the best of both worlds: Marc Jacobs, for example, has the freedom to do what he wants. He developed a strong reputation as the former artistic director for Louis Vuitton, and eventually had enough financial freedom and support from the fashion community to move away from that position and focus on his own brand.

Steele also discusses the power of the fashion curator. As fashion exhibits become a more common part of museum practice, they make the public aware of the importance of fashion in our culture today and enhance our knowledge of fashion history. Though curators don’t necessarily hold sway over current fashion trends, their contribution to the fashion system is just as important to our understanding of fashion as it was in the past and how it will take shape in the future.

This article was both informational and interesting. Having read much of Steele’s work, it was enlightening to read her frank thoughts about power structures within an opaque industry. Without this kind of discussion, one might not even consider some of the exchanges of power that take place behind the scenes of the fashion system, and the article covered most of the sectors within the industry. The notion of the blogger as relatively powerless is something that I would contest, but only slightly – I do agree that bloggers are not of equal importance, but some do have significant followings and have become quite important figures. Further discussion on this point would clarify the issue.

See the full article here: http://www.vestoj.com/onpower/