A Series of Tubes: Fashion Designers vs. The Internet

Computerphobia seems rampant in the fashion industry – but is a fear of the internet and digital technology stifling creativity and crippling innovation? Suzy Menkes, fashion editor of the International Herald Tribune, tries to get to the bottom of this question in a recent IHT article. Digging deep into the most venerable fashion houses, she tries to determine which designers are clueless about the internet (Miuccia Prada), which are curious but inept (Marc Jacobs), which savvy (Christopher Bailey of Burberry) and which violently repulsed (Alber Elbaz of Lanvin) by this series of tubes Generation Google has embraced.

In an industry that relies so much on visual artistry and tactile creativity, is it really a loss that so many of our most esteemed designers are stuck in an analogue world? That’s a tough question. On the one hand, we’d like to think that creativity knows no boundaries, and that one can – and should – find inspiration from the world around us. On the other hand, for fashion to be groundbreaking, doesn’t it need to be thoroughly in touch with the modern state of mind?

In the article, Menkes focuses only on the most entrenched, storied fashion houses and the designers at their helm (most of whom are middle aged or older). We’re prone to believe that if one looked inside the workrooms of the independent, smaller labels (of which there are thousands, many of whom are just as influential in the industry), you would find designers just as comfortable with a Macbook as with a pair of shears. And maybe that’s the point: It may be the independents who are the future of our fashion industry, and the storied conglomerates, holding on too tightly to the past, may be left there in the end.

International Herald Tribune: Computerphobia: Is it undermining the fashion industry?