0:00:11.408,0:00:12.927
Look around.

0:00:12.927,0:00:14.940
Who is sitting next to you?

0:00:14.953,0:00:17.650
In your row of seats? Behind you?

0:00:17.909,0:00:24.908
How many people have you[br]talked to during the lunch break?

0:00:25.865,0:00:28.739
Did you exchange any words,[br]express your opinion?

0:00:29.037,0:00:32.571
With how many people[br]have you had visual contact?

0:00:32.900,0:00:35.913
Fashion is a visual language.

0:00:36.781,0:00:43.063
And, it can expose you,[br]even when you are fully dressed.

0:00:43.292,0:00:46.680
Who chose your image for today? You?

0:00:46.862,0:00:48.433
Me, perhaps?

0:00:49.077,0:00:51.228
Somebody in far off Paris?

0:00:52.210,0:00:56.563
Let's talk today about[br]who was behind your decision,

0:00:56.563,0:00:59.929
why you dress like you do,

0:01:01.493,0:01:06.590
what you can tell about a person[br]by how they dress,

0:01:07.121,0:01:11.384
what we can tell about a society[br]if we analyse its fashion.

0:01:13.518,0:01:20.372
I would like to tell you a few stories,

0:01:20.372,0:01:24.066
stories to give you a vivid picture

0:01:24.066,0:01:30.786
of how society changes looking at it[br]through the fashion industry.

0:01:32.990,0:01:38.519
Let's go back to the time of the monarchy.

0:01:39.184,0:01:44.735
At this time, all power[br]was in the hands of one person:

0:01:45.617,0:01:50.073
essentially, fashion[br]depended on their wishes.

0:01:50.653,0:01:56.513
It was a narrow circle of elite,[br]the nobility, of inherited entitlement,

0:01:57.261,0:02:01.113
their revenues guaranteed[br]by their estates.

0:02:03.121,0:02:06.789
The life of ordinary people[br]was completely different.

0:02:06.845,0:02:13.122
For these people, their clothes played[br]another role ... a practical one,

0:02:13.122,0:02:17.995
or one according to their profession,[br]craft or employment.

0:02:18.176,0:02:21.302
So, it was the case that you could tell[br]from the clothes they wore

0:02:21.302,0:02:23.304
what they did,

0:02:23.304,0:02:25.508
or what their societal status was.

0:02:27.030,0:02:32.480
All information was passed by hand[br]from person to person,

0:02:32.480,0:02:38.267
there was no press, no mass media,[br]that is, no promotion of information,

0:02:38.267,0:02:42.822
so how fast you got[br]information from the monarch,

0:02:42.822,0:02:44.673
from the centre of power,

0:02:44.673,0:02:49.301
depended on how close to him,[br]how close to the centre of power you were.

0:02:49.345,0:02:53.299
That's how the expression[br]"provincial fashion" came about.

0:02:53.466,0:02:59.480
By the time you received any information,[br]it would have become out of date,

0:02:59.480,0:03:03.096
whether it was about fashion[br]or anything else.

0:03:04.335,0:03:08.370
In other words,[br]looking at somebody's outfit,

0:03:08.370,0:03:14.037
we get to know how close that person was[br]from a centre of power, from the monarchy.

0:03:16.615,0:03:20.435
The world of fashion[br]underwent a transformation

0:03:20.435,0:03:24.338
with the coming[br]of the Industrial Revolution.

0:03:26.054,0:03:32.166
The nobility started to get poorer,[br]a title no longer guaranteed your income,

0:03:32.166,0:03:36.005
and estates could be bought and sold.

0:03:36.753,0:03:40.832
A new elite came to power,

0:03:40.839,0:03:43.963
the capitalist elite, the capitalists.

0:03:46.577,0:03:53.552
They came from [br]a very low stratum of society.

0:03:55.903,0:04:00.905
Look at this picture,[br]how easy this family looks.

0:04:01.049,0:04:03.661
Maybe you know who it is in this photo?

0:04:03.994,0:04:06.854
This family is a manufacturer[br]of sports footwear.

0:04:07.095,0:04:09.106
There are two brothers there:

0:04:09.530,0:04:12.605
one of them is Adi Dassler,

0:04:13.058,0:04:16.685
and his brother was nicknamed Puma.

0:04:18.523,0:04:23.754
The laws of the previous elite[br]were not written for them.

0:04:24.072,0:04:27.131
They simply don't know them.

0:04:27.298,0:04:31.241
And since they don't know them,[br]they don't use them.

0:04:31.974,0:04:33.722
An opportunity presents itself,

0:04:33.722,0:04:39.073
and with it the desire to show off[br]your new status in society.

0:04:39.314,0:04:42.804
The easiest way to do that[br]is through clothes, through fashion.

0:04:42.865,0:04:45.564
Individuality comes to fashion.

0:04:49.094,0:04:55.288
The Industrial Revolution makes possible[br]the production of cheaper clothes.

0:04:55.949,0:04:58.865
The quality of goods is becoming[br]much more consistent.

0:05:00.883,0:05:03.524
And the situation is becoming one

0:05:03.524,0:05:07.796
where there's more on the market

0:05:07.796,0:05:11.570
than people really need.

0:05:11.814,0:05:15.283
For the capitalists[br]to maintain their power,

0:05:15.283,0:05:20.116
you need constant consumption[br]requiring constant production.

0:05:20.249,0:05:24.636
How do you do that[br]if people don't need things?

0:05:24.962,0:05:26.874
They have to be taught to buy.

0:05:30.846,0:05:34.887
And that's where designers came in,

0:05:36.328,0:05:40.606
creating, not just practical clothes,

0:05:40.606,0:05:42.263
but a look,

0:05:42.263,0:05:44.941
an individual look for everyone.

0:05:45.636,0:05:49.733
By the way, the first designers[br]as we know them today,

0:05:49.733,0:05:51.567
as we know the fashion industry,

0:05:51.567,0:05:54.384
come to us from the 19th century.

0:05:54.394,0:05:58.254
The first designer to sew his label[br]on the clothes he made

0:05:58.254,0:06:00.172
was Charles Frederick Worth.

0:06:01.550,0:06:05.620
And then this image[br]created by this designer,

0:06:05.620,0:06:09.667
which isn't really practical anymore,

0:06:09.698,0:06:12.032
but an emotional image,

0:06:12.032,0:06:13.970
starts to sell.

0:06:14.340,0:06:18.145
Seasonality is coming, new trends,

0:06:20.222,0:06:25.810
but the capitalists needed to sustain[br]growth in consumption.

0:06:26.535,0:06:29.374
How was that to be done?

0:06:30.236,0:06:32.562
The printing press arrives,

0:06:33.675,0:06:40.154
and by using the printing press,[br]they achieve their goal.

0:06:41.402,0:06:42.732
Advertising.

0:06:42.768,0:06:46.163
New advertising agencies are opening up

0:06:46.163,0:06:52.958
that build purely emotional sales,

0:06:52.958,0:06:59.263
while the product itself is already[br]becoming of secondary concern.

0:06:59.326,0:07:02.648
It's the consumption[br]of emotion that matters.

0:07:05.747,0:07:08.876
For the capitalists of the time,

0:07:08.891,0:07:12.563
this proved to be[br]very supportive of their power

0:07:12.563,0:07:14.394
and the growth of that power,

0:07:14.394,0:07:16.238
but they didn't realize

0:07:16.238,0:07:19.014
that they themselves had started

0:07:19.014,0:07:23.324
the beginning of the end of their century.

0:07:24.701,0:07:26.111
The press.

0:07:26.212,0:07:30.408
Fashion magazines[br]are gaining a lot o power,

0:07:30.414,0:07:35.803
and so into their hands[br]falls the future of designers,

0:07:35.803,0:07:38.826
the future of trademarks,[br]the future of brands.

0:07:41.621,0:07:48.222
And you won't believe how big a role[br]they play in a situation like this.

0:07:48.387,0:07:53.971
It is Paris, a young designer[br]shows his new collection.

0:07:54.275,0:07:55.795
Christian Dior.

0:07:56.155,0:08:01.362
The American press,[br]including "Harper's Bazaar".

0:08:01.496,0:08:05.889
Its editor-in-chief, Carmel Snow,[br]exclaimed after the show:

0:08:06.196,0:08:09.098
"Dior! It's a new look!" -

0:08:09.098,0:08:12.528
"It's a new approach,[br]a new look at fashion!"

0:08:12.528,0:08:16.090
She goes back to America[br]and writes about it.

0:08:16.090,0:08:17.649
Photographs.

0:08:17.649,0:08:22.419
Dior becomes very popular[br]in America and in Europe,

0:08:22.674,0:08:29.561
The style icon of the decade was to be[br]the "New Look" by Christian Dior.

0:08:30.686,0:08:33.807
His name is very easy to pronounce,

0:08:33.807,0:08:36.856
and it's even easier to write in English.

0:08:37.440,0:08:40.740
At this time in Europe,[br]in France, in Paris,

0:08:40.740,0:08:44.167
there are, in fact, a lot more designers

0:08:44.178,0:08:47.811
who also show similar fashions.

0:08:47.867,0:08:50.387
But their names[br]are much harder to pronounce,

0:08:50.387,0:08:54.831
while Dior's name is much easier to say.

0:08:55.852,0:08:59.128
The names of the other designers[br]are slowly fading into history:

0:08:59.128,0:09:04.805
including a great designer,[br]Elsa Schiaparelli, for example.

0:09:05.638,0:09:09.177
Christian Dior is the "New Look".

0:09:11.288,0:09:16.687
Capitalists have discovered

0:09:16.687,0:09:20.046
the way of a new age,

0:09:20.046,0:09:23.949
the age of information,[br]a world of information

0:09:24.848,0:09:30.526
where power passes[br]from the hands of capitalists

0:09:30.558,0:09:36.743
into the hands of those[br]who manipulate, who use,

0:09:36.743,0:09:39.672
exploit information.

0:09:39.896,0:09:45.914
A new elite emerges,[br]the information elite.

0:09:49.527,0:09:54.121
The entire structure[br]of society is changing,

0:09:54.599,0:10:00.274
as is the way fashion is created,

0:10:00.274,0:10:03.685
and what is behind[br]the impulse to create fashion.

0:10:03.989,0:10:09.398
The most important thing[br]for a designer right now,

0:10:09.398,0:10:11.934
for the fashion industry, to survive

0:10:11.934,0:10:15.686
is collaboration with social media,

0:10:16.198,0:10:23.049
with Instagram and applications like it.

0:10:24.513,0:10:30.632
For a designer to have a[br]success with his collection,

0:10:31.275,0:10:36.345
the designer has[br]to come up with images, clothes,

0:10:36.896,0:10:42.320
that fit the most popular[br]Instagram hashtags.

0:10:42.916,0:10:49.464
They're already talking openly about[br]whether we need traditional fashion weeks,

0:10:49.526,0:10:52.134
whether we need seasonality.

0:10:52.765,0:10:55.688
Because Instagram[br]doesn't have seasonality.

0:10:56.708,0:10:59.920
And, on what the critics[br]write about a fashion week,

0:10:59.920,0:11:02.339
practically nothing depends.

0:11:02.920,0:11:06.566
Everything depends on your ability

0:11:06.566,0:11:11.920
to collaborate with bloggers,[br]with Instagram.

0:11:14.154,0:11:16.963
And even the entire[br]business model is changing.

0:11:17.179,0:11:21.610
If the traditional model[br]involved a markup,

0:11:21.610,0:11:26.860
where you added an amount[br]to the cost of the goods to make a profit,

0:11:26.860,0:11:30.626
now, the most important thing[br]is a constant turnover.

0:11:31.622,0:11:37.804
Now such online stores as Amazon[br]are becoming the sales leaders,

0:11:37.824,0:11:42.292
and it's because they can sell at a loss.

0:11:42.900,0:11:46.853
The most important thing for them is[br]is the turnover of information.

0:11:47.288,0:11:52.718
And the traditional shops,[br]the leaders of the 20th century,

0:11:52.718,0:11:55.262
are forced to close their doors

0:11:55.262,0:11:57.787
because they cannot stand the competition

0:11:57.787,0:12:01.571
for the purchasing power[br]of a new generation.

0:12:01.942,0:12:04.309
In the information world,

0:12:04.309,0:12:09.551
the most important thing[br]is the constant movement of information,

0:12:09.551,0:12:12.446
but not the quality of that information.

0:12:12.547,0:12:16.624
The faster the information circulates,[br]the greater it becomes.

0:12:17.314,0:12:21.769
This is just what we see[br]in fashion trends,

0:12:21.769,0:12:24.874
where quality is becoming marginalized.

0:12:25.491,0:12:31.863
And we cannot even say[br]that quality corresponds to price.

0:12:32.252,0:12:38.538
In fact, the development and design[br]of new looks is already not so important.

0:12:40.238,0:12:45.699
You can imagine that just yesterday,

0:12:45.726,0:12:48.582
this would have been[br]the greatest of horrors

0:12:48.582,0:12:50.602
for a professional designer?

0:12:51.322,0:12:55.026
Flip-flops with socks and shorts.

0:12:55.512,0:13:01.034
I just laughed at it.

0:13:02.466,0:13:07.002
I took this photo today

0:13:07.002,0:13:12.691
from one of today's[br]most famous brands: "Vetements".

0:13:12.849,0:13:15.331
And this is what[br]they're actually presenting,

0:13:15.331,0:13:17.274
I mean, that's the outfit

0:13:17.274,0:13:20.955
of the most fashionable[br]men and women of fashion in the world.

0:13:22.367,0:13:24.494
Does it get any better than this ...

0:13:26.234,0:13:30.828
(Applause)

0:13:32.413,0:13:34.615
Hoodies.

0:13:34.744,0:13:37.305
(Laughter)

0:13:39.496,0:13:44.669
We see three almost identical hoodies,

0:13:45.312,0:13:47.879
their colour and design are the same.

0:13:49.959,0:13:54.038
"Off-White", "Supreme", I don't know -[br]You know them? Ever heard of them?

0:13:54.038,0:13:56.906
Very prominent contemporary brands.

0:13:57.329,0:14:00.250
Basically, the difference in them

0:14:00.250,0:14:05.308
is only in the brand logo[br]and the added pictures and patterns.

0:14:07.022,0:14:11.331
And the last hoodie in the picture -

0:14:11.331,0:14:15.090
I checked this morning[br]before coming here -

0:14:15.090,0:14:18.484
you can't buy it in a conventional shop,

0:14:18.484,0:14:20.511
it's only for collectors.

0:14:21.028,0:14:24.720
You can buy it for yourself on eBay

0:14:24.720,0:14:28.338
for up to $25,000.

0:14:31.670,0:14:38.573
Basically, with these three[br]very fashionable hoodies,

0:14:38.573,0:14:44.880
we just see the information[br]about their brand, and nothing else.

0:14:45.543,0:14:52.145
So, brands are acquiring[br]a new informational status,

0:14:52.145,0:14:55.221
where the product itself[br]is no longer important.

0:14:55.443,0:15:01.327
What is important is the information[br]and product promotion on social media.

0:15:02.698,0:15:08.397
"Supreme" can be stuck

0:15:08.397,0:15:10.737
onto practically anything.

0:15:10.972,0:15:16.488
If before, when before,[br]when fashion houses were being created,

0:15:16.488,0:15:18.384
brands were being created,

0:15:18.384,0:15:23.764
there was a client in mind, one client,[br]at which the brand was aimed,

0:15:23.764,0:15:26.671
defined by the price tag.

0:15:28.749,0:15:32.766
That is, a product line[br]offered by one brand

0:15:32.766,0:15:35.636
would all have about the same price.

0:15:35.905,0:15:38.021
In the case of Supreme,

0:15:38.031,0:15:44.107
the price can start[br]in the luxury segment -

0:15:45.113,0:15:48.040
a Ferrari with a Supreme sticker -

0:15:48.383,0:15:51.081
while at the same time,[br]we can see in the slide,

0:15:51.081,0:15:55.442
they sell shovels with the same logo.

0:15:56.502,0:16:03.326
It can be glued onto any product,[br]and the price raised.

0:16:06.326,0:16:09.351
The second very interesting change

0:16:09.351,0:16:14.161
is that the development[br]of the design of this product

0:16:14.161,0:16:18.051
is nor provided by the Supreme team.

0:16:18.367,0:16:20.997
It is being done by factories

0:16:23.263,0:16:27.686
who actually make the product,

0:16:27.686,0:16:30.391
and Supreme is just gluing its logos on.

0:16:31.075,0:16:35.532
Similarly, the hoodie by Louis Vuitton[br]which we've just seen

0:16:35.532,0:16:38.400
was designed by Louis Vuitton,

0:16:38.400,0:16:42.283
and Supreme has just glued on its logo.

0:16:42.471,0:16:44.495
And this is exactly how

0:16:44.495,0:16:49.852
firms that started their businesses[br]in the 20th century

0:16:49.852,0:16:51.382
are surviving today:

0:16:51.382,0:16:53.536
by collaborating

0:16:53.536,0:16:59.265
with such information brands as Supreme.

0:17:01.860,0:17:05.490
Today, I've told you

0:17:05.496,0:17:11.365
how we can see, through fashion,

0:17:11.365,0:17:14.921
how our society is changing,

0:17:14.921,0:17:18.615
and how the centre of power is changing.

0:17:19.527,0:17:21.623
We started from the monarchy,

0:17:21.623,0:17:24.850
where all power was[br]in the hands of one person,

0:17:24.850,0:17:30.924
and then we moved on to capitalists,[br]who brought us individuality to fashion.

0:17:31.900,0:17:37.705
Then, via print media,[br]we've arrived at the world of information.

0:17:38.816,0:17:41.447
I wouldn't like to tell you

0:17:41.447,0:17:44.740
that Steve Jobs was a great fashion icon.

0:17:45.248,0:17:49.877
I don't honestly think[br]he was very preoccupied with fashion;

0:17:49.877,0:17:54.632
he just wore his jeans and sneakers

0:17:54.632,0:17:57.629
and went about minding his own business.

0:17:57.629,0:18:01.223
Even less that he thought about[br]how we all should dress.

0:18:01.621,0:18:08.362
That's not the issue at all;[br]it's that the vector of power has shifted.

0:18:08.541,0:18:11.863
And that's already reflected[br]in the way we dress.

0:18:12.875,0:18:14.970
Look around you.

0:18:15.490,0:18:17.079
Has anything changed?

0:18:18.825,0:18:20.657
No, I don't mean in how we're dressed,

0:18:20.657,0:18:24.080
we're dressed just as we were[br]18 minutes ago.

0:18:25.018,0:18:28.140
But, maybe, something's changed about you,

0:18:28.140,0:18:30.462
in how you see fashion?

0:18:32.247,0:18:33.647
Thank you.

0:18:34.133,0:18:37.132
(Applause)