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Fashion Snob

Posted on April 4, 2011
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Hello A feature article that was rejected for a magazine piece for uni. I’m proud of it even if no-one else is. I should note not to take this article to heart, it was written for a satirical humorous magazine
Fashion Snob


There has always been fashion snobbery within the industry, if you are not from the upper class or in a position of money, then expect the door of Dior to be firmly closed. Personal appearance and social status has always been important to get through life, but why is fashion so snobbish and why can’t everyone be equal? Why is narcissism allowed to run wild and free in the fashion spotlight even though they have the money and the status? After all it stills an act of snobbery behaviour.

How often do you go into a high fashion designer boutique, one that you haven’t visited before and as soon as you step through the door, you instantly feel out of place? As you step through the door, you can feel you are being judged on your looks, you’re not wearing the latest catwalk collection. There is a stench of snobbery in the air as you look around the shop, then you pick up an item off the shelf and out of the blue a sales assistant storms up asking “is there I can help you with madam?” The sales assistant speaks with a manner of authority in his tone, a deep impoliteness in his voice, an impression that you don’t belong here. A thousand needles hit you leaving you feeling embarrassed, flustered and the feeling of turning beetroot red in the face. You replied quietly that you are just browsing but you want the ground to open and to swallow you up. How often does that happen and only after from running out of the shop you vowed to yourself that you will never be back there.

We have all been in that situation when visiting a new unknown shop, a place where we wouldn’t normally do our shopping but want to simply browse. Judgemental eyes follow you from the moment you step in the store, and you know that you don’t belong here. It is only as you leave the shop you see another person walking in, dressed head to toe in the latest catwalk collection and the atmosphere would change to where you see the sales assistant greeting the shopper and offering to help, a complete opposite, warm open manner where the tone of his voice is softer, kinder and polite. It becomes a playground almost for that person as they are free to browse at their leisure.

This is fashion snobbery in its purest form, being judged on your appearance. How would you define fashion snobbery? Would it be someone who would wear tip to toe classic Chanel while shopping exclusively in Paris and would never been seen shopping alone the high street? Or would it be how your social standing is defined by your appearance? If you don’t follow the catwalk trends you could find yourself ‘shunned by the chic’.

The definition of snobbery is often the trait of feeling superior to those of a lower social class. The nose firmly fixed up in the air, believing that you are superior to others; you live and breathe with the attitude that you are better than anyone else.

Britain has a history of being ruled by the snobbish. You only need to look back through the last couple of centuries and look at how we divide people through the class system, it’s always the rich and powerful at the top while the poor are at the bottom, think of the example of the Titanic where the upper class got off the ship first while the lower class were left to sink.

The rich upper classes are free to enjoy the luxury of Haute Couture in Paris, and are in a position to indulge their own personal passion for fashion. By having large amounts of disposable income they are able to have custom made couture. The one of a kind couture displays their wealth and status unlike the mass produced high street clothes which often copy-cat other catwalk trends. Not only are the rich showing off their affluence, but ensuring people still know that they are superior to anyone else.

Chanel, Dior and Prada are all house hold names to the wealthy classes and the well-off wouldn’t dream of shopping anywhere else; this is where the humble high street shops are ignored for the premier names in fashion retailing. It’s an exclusive world where it’s only about you, narcissism at its very best.

Narcissism is still a form of snobbery, an egotistical behaviour where an individual is completely oblivious to everyone but themself. Just follow any tabloid favourite such as Kim kardashian or Coleen Rooney and you cannot ignore it, always in the national paper, always having their focus and attention fixated on them. You can almost call it a Narcissist personality disorder.

These rich wealthy people often display a vain selfish persona, where it is only about them and their need, both snobbish and ignorant of their true status in the world.

It isn’t only these individuals which display narcissism, fashion houses and shops display this trait. Can you imagine a girl wearing a cheap tracksuit shopping in Liberties? No way, you would be shown the door. Harrods also has a history of being a snobbish department store; the footmen at the entrance watch everyone entering, judging you on what you wear making the underdressed feel insecure. If they don’t approve of your dress sense then you are refused entrance. Harrods is the playground of the wealthy from all over the world. It’s a place where only the rich can afford to spend money on the expensive luxury goods. It’s a privileged lifestyle of the wealthy elite. Never having the need to move a finger as they have personal assistant at their beck and call, a simple click of the fingers and they can have whatever they want.

Appearance in fashion has always been important; image is important to achieve further in life. Achieving the right approved appearance is where the real judgmental snobbery sets in. If you are not tall, skinny or good looking then you will be judged upon. Snobbery within the fashion houses over appearance has always existed, an upturn of the nose as if something smells bad if a girl with the wrong look dares to show her face in the house of Prada. It is like a stray cat who innocently wandered in being picked up and thrown out on the street, “excuse me miss but you be more at home at New look than Prada”. It’s a narrow view of the world where an individual is put on a personal catwalk stage and is being judged on their appearances, much like how a contestant is judged by the judges on the X-factor. Fashion is a massive judgemental industry where external beauty and money is more important than the inner beauty.

The fashion industry, like all business, is focused on making money. It’s what drives the greedy rich; it’s a never ending hunger that always feeds the appetite that lies in wealthy deep purses. It what lies at the heart of fashion snobbery, the fashion industry knows that the rich do indeed have deep purses, an almost endless supply of money where there is never a problem with the price tags.

Now it’s the age of the internet and those from all backgrounds can have the experience of looking at high end fashion brands, with websites such as Net-a-Porter where you can buy all the latest season’s collections fresh from the catwalk. It breaks down old fashion taboos and at last fashion can be equal for everyone without anyone prejudging you. While the prices still lead to exclusivity for the rich, the not so wealthy can still dream about owning the fashionable catwalk collection and having the wealth to afford the collection.

Anyone from any class status can indulge their own personal passion for fashion in the comfort of their own home; fashion designers collections are now equal and fair for all. Only in the last decade consumer credit has had a massive impact on people spending, buying goods on credit is now the norm, opening a new window for the fashion industry and opening a new class of consumers. As the old class system starts to fade away into history and new system of open consumers begins to increase. In turn this breaks down the old cycle of snobbery and ignorance. People from all classes are able to take care of their appearances buying fashion, not only from the high street but places such as Vivienne Westwood and DKNY. A new equality in appearances is taking over and as we all move into a new Century. Let’s hope this democracy of fashion continues.

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The high Street Collaboration

Posted on November 2, 2010
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Hi, this was for my feature piece of work for uni, i thought i will post on here.Since the turn of the millennium, a new trend has emerged where high street shops and high fashion designers go hand in hand, a limited collaboration creating a unique one of a kind collection that the ordinary people can buy. Ordinary people can buy that little piece of designer’s heaven.

It is to be celebrated and applauded, once at the opposite end of the spectrum in the fashion world, high expensive fashion couture designed for the rich society while the high street was for the hard working class. Not exactly, rivals but one couldn’t exist without the other one, the high fashion designers showcased the latest trends and then it eventually trickled down to the high street shops.

The rumour mill often goes into overdrive on who will be next in line to do a collaboration range. The rumour mill went into over drive on Boxing Day when pop singer Rihanna was seen dining with Topshop owner Sir Phillip Green – there was rumours that she was interested in collaborating with Topshop. This proved to be false hope for all the young teenagers; it was just purely a social meeting.

Everyday when picking up my news feed on Twitter, I’m being fed with little whispers, more like Chinese whispers than any actual facts but with all the rumour and whispers it’s enough to get the milled into overdrive.

Very often, these Chinese whispers do hint at some certain truth, there was a rumour at the end of last year that 38 year old Geri Hailliwell was to design a swimwear range for the clothes shop Next. This turned out to be true when a photo shoot of the swimwear, modelled by Geri of course, landed in my e-mails. When speaking about the swimwear range, she told the mail online ‘It’s about inspiring confidence with great looking swimwear for all body shapes.’ She has said previously: ‘its for real women of all shapes and sizes. Everything is mix and match, so you can choose the exact shapes and styles that suit you. This is a collection that makes you look good and feel fabulous.’

A spokesman for Geri said that she was ‘hands on’ and ‘it was very much her baby’. Geri Hailliwell is never one to shy away from publicity, still trying to get her 15 minutes of fame.

However she isn’t the first to design a swimwear range for a high street shop, Kylie Minogue designed a bikini range in 2007, while Liz Hurley in May last year launched her ‘Elizabeth Hurley Beach’ store in sunny Spain.

The true success story from the noughties, in term of high street chain collaboration is H&M. The Swedish store proved to have outshone any competitor in the market. It started in 2004 with Karl Largerfield when the collections sold out within minute of release. Jimmy Choo, Matthew Williamson and Stella McCartney have all designed limited editions for the high street chain. The Jimmy Choo collaboration was a first for the high market shoes wear, it was the first time they included any clothing into any collections. You can imagine the stampede of screaming fashion fans, camping out all night just waiting so they could be the first to buy that collection range. There was more frenzy and more hyped up young girls than at a sold out Take That concert. Any passing visitors, outside the bubble must wonder what all the fuss was about.

The more recent H&M collaboration was the Lanvin collection, Quoted from designer Alber Elbaz in the Paper magazine as “”It was an experiment. I wanted to learn something from it. I felt that there is a huge group of people who never could afford Lanvin. I didn’t really want to make Lanvin cheaper, though, but I decided I was going to try to turn H&M into luxury.”

This news sent every fashion blogosphere into overdrive, finally a way for the avenge person to buy that Lanvin sparkle. With Lanvin being one of the most influential labels around at the moment, it is not surprising that the collection was sold out within minutes of being on sale. H&M’s flag street store in Oxford Street started to issue out wristbands to people waiting in the queue with a designated time slot in which the shoppers were allowed a 15 minute time slot to make their purchase, as a way to improve the usual crushing stampede.

20-year-old marketing student Winnie Tang had been one of the early arrivals at the Oxford Street, London, store and she told WGSN: “We were about fourth or fifth in the queue. I bought almost every dress from the collection and spend around £900. It’s definitely worth it as Lanvin is an icon.”

The success story of H&M could not be without the dedicated team who decide which designers they will work with next. The dedicated team of six described themselves as their own fashion scout, talking to the MailOnline “we are our own fashion scouts. We look at women in our stores and people in the street.”

One of the members in the team says “We’re a very democratic society (…) we keep what we do simple and we think its wrong that fashion should be the preserve of the rich”. The team continued stating,

“We are self-critical and always want to improve and look forward.’ Not that she takes any credit: ‘We decide together on the designers we want to work with.’ The H&M team insisted it is very much a team H&M spirit. This team spirit recently announced the next collaboration to follow on the recent success story of Lanvin. Dedicated to their native Swedish hometown, it is time for a Swedish blogger to take center stage in the designer’s chair. Elien King is regarded as the young stylish Swedish fashionista blogger in her native Sweden, her blog is regarded as a bible in term of fashion. It is the first time a blogger has collaborated with a high street chain. This could be the turn of the tide, a new trend setting up in the new decade. King discussed to vogue.com on her thoughts toward the collaboration as “It has been very inspiring to be able to work so closely with the design team at H&M, and I’m incredibly happy with the results. The collection is minimalistic and raw, but with bohemian elements, something that reflects my personal style well.” Off course you can only buy the collection in her native Sweden.

Off course H&M can’t take all the limelight. Other success stories have emerged from other high street collaboration. The super model Kate Moss teamed up with her BFF (that’s best friend forever) Sir Phillip Green to designs a collection for Topshop stores. It was marketed to the Topshop gullible as a way to put that supermodel quality in your wardrobe at high street price, but that high street price turns out to be a bit steep for any wannabe. A fashion student summed up to me her thoughts about the Kate Moss range and the steep price, “If I were to spend £200 on a dress, I would want it to be of a better quality and something more special rather than the over-publicised high street/designer pieces.”

Kate Moss is celebrated as being the iconic supermodel of the past two decades, someone who has survived various scandal and drama in her professional and personal life. The celebrated fashion designer Celia Birthwell who had designed in the past a limited edition range for Topshop remembered in fondness her collection for Topshop. Celia Birthwell now designed a range for the department store John Lewis. Discussing the difference between designing a range for TopShop and John Lewis, she told the daily record “A John Lewis customer is much more classical and demure while Topshop is a brilliant store; it’s like heaven for girls who like clothes. You can pick all sorts of things from vintage to modern, it’s a feast.”

Of course I could spend all day discussing various high street collaborations. Sure it was a very big ‘in’ trend to do in the noughties, and from various case studies, this trend isn’t go away fast and is set to continue into the new decade. As a society it is very much about status objects and the idea of owning something ‘made’ by a high end designer is very alluring. The attachment of a designer or celebrity name to a high street product is a definitive initiative to buy a piece from that collection.

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Blogging matter

Posted on March 11, 2010
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To sit here sometimes and to write an intresting blog is a challenge, as i often sit in front my Blogger editor for 5 minutes and i just dunno how to Start a blog!.

How is one suppose to know how to start a blog – it’s the same way every writer ponders.

Journalist ponder on how to start an article while novel writer ponder on how to start a story.

I and i’m sure many other ‘bloggers’ sure have this problem, too. Do you write just a simple ‘hello’ or do you get right in and dig in whatever your blog will be about?

But once you start your blog and you know how to overcome the hard task (can you really call it a hard task?) on starting a blog – now the next part, What is your blog going to be about…

This is another challenge as well, as if you don’t have anything to say then what’s the point in writing a blog? Now I know a lot of people (or maybe not) that like nothing better than an intresting blog.

It dosen’t have to be indepth, it don’t have to be a looong arse blog that takes about half an hour to read- But as long as it’s intresting it surely will keep your reader intrested.

But how can the writer make the blog interesting? One subject that intrests you might not interest someone else, so how do you keep everyone happy? When reading a blog would you be interested in that person life or whatever subject the writer has chosen.

The subject is another matter to wonder – what do you want to write about. The subjects are endless… they might have chosen to write about their day or even their life story, their idol or a movie they just seen at the cinema. It not written in black pixels on what exactly to write in a blog (unless you joined one of those blogger ring or something), their never been a law that state on what to write in your blog. So really writing a blog is really a whole big area that never been written down – it a whole new genre that has opened up from the internet.

Is this the way it going to be from now on? Instead of old fashion diary and notebook – We all be having blog in the future. and is that such a bad thing? Would it be an accurate for some future generation or some green alien to read about this world?

Now you’ve got your starter, main course and all you need is to end this blog.

Do you just write a simple ‘bye bye love you xxx’ or leave with a question wide open? Do you finish the point (subject) you were writing and bring it to a close? Do you write a witty humorous ending or just finish the sentance and go?…

To sit here sometimes and to write an intresting blog is a challenge, as i often sit in front my Blogger editor for 5 minutes and i just dunno how to Start a blog!.

How is one suppose to know how to start a blog – it’s the same way every writer ponders.

Journalist ponder on how to start an article while novel writer ponder on how to start a story.

I and i’m sure many other ‘bloggers’ sure have this problem, too. Do you write just a simple ‘hello’ or do you get right in and dig in whatever your blog will be about?

But once you start your blog and you know how to overcome the hard task (can you really call it a hard task?) on starting a blog – now the next part, What is your blog going to be about…

This is another challenge as well, as if you don’t have anything to say then what’s the point in writing a blog? Now I know a lot of people (or maybe not) that like nothing better than an intresting blog.

It dosen’t have to be indepth, it don’t have to be a looong arse blog that takes about half an hour to read- But as long as it’s intresting it surely will keep your reader intrested.

But how can the writer make the blog interesting? One subject that intrests you might not interest someone else, so how do you keep everyone happy? When reading a blog would you be interested in that person life or whatever subject the writer has chosen.

The subject is another matter to wonder – what do you want to write about. The subjects are endless… they might have chosen to write about their day or even their life story, their idol or a movie they just seen at the cinema. It not written in black pixels on what exactly to write in a blog (unless you joined one of those blogger ring or something), their never been a law that state on what to write in your blog. So really writing a blog is really a whole big area that never been written down – it a whole new genre that has opened up from the internet.

Is this the way it going to be from now on? Instead of old fashion diary and notebook – We all be having blog in the future. and is that such a bad thing? Would it be an accurate for some future generation or some green alien to read about this world?

Now you’ve got your starter, main course and all you need is to end this blog.

Do you just write a simple ‘bye bye love you xxx’ or leave with a question wide open? Do you finish the point (subject) you were writing and bring it to a close? Do you write a witty humorous ending or just finish the sentance and go?…

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