By Cinta Villapadierna
"We are fine, so far…" and the sales assistant of the Louis Vuitton store on Berlin's main shopping street, turns around and touches wood, being conscious of the crisis in this sector.
"We've been lucky, and we didn’t have to put our shop in sale, but raised the prices twice this year", she adds.
The French brand that belongs to the number one group in luxury goods LVMH, is one of the fortunate ones that are able to survive this difficult time. It has known how to sell its image by bringing up new lines of accessories, jewellery, watches or perfumes, which provide the biggest incomes.
It seems that when there is no money to reward oneself with a Chanel bag, the firms have discovered that the client compensates himself with the lip stick of the two embraced "C".
But there are not many fashion houses that can practice this concept, and hence confront the crisis with less wastage. This is the case of little labels with only one clothing line, or even of the classic "maison" like Lacroix.
From 2000 women in the world, who bought "haute couture", today there are barely 200, most of them Russian or Arabian millionaires. In 1945 there were more than 100 houses of high-end fashion, now reduced to less than 10, as it happened to Christian Lacroix, who had to announce his insolvency in June.
Another example of the cadaver that the global financial crisis is leaving behind is the biggest German luxury fashion producer, Escada, who declared itself insolvent in August 2009, after years dealing with financial problems. It has to be seen if the Indian steel magnate Mittal, who has bought the brand, is able to reanimate it.
But where some loose, others win. "Low cost" brands like Zara that belongs to the Spanish group Inditex, and the Swedish H&M seem to be the “winners” of this crisis, as far as it is possible to call it like that. Women, who now and then could afford an Armani skirt, now have to think about it twice and finally buy the copy by Zara.
This is the success of these brands: Zara is able to produce the same Prada blouse within 8 days, using good materials and designs, but in huge amounts. Thus, the production is much cheaper. Also, it has found the way of presenting itself as a superior range. This has been noticed by all the people who practice the "mix&match" technique (combining design with cheaper basics), and even Vogue magazine. Not long ago, it was completely impossible to find in it something beyond 200 euros, but now they even explain how to copy a Gucci look at low price.
And the crisis is not always negative. "It is horrible, but healthy, economy was out of control, and something had to happen" explained the German designer Lagerfeld, creative director of Chanel, who had to fire 200 employees at the begining of last year. The Italian Donatella Versace told that she sees in it "a huge opportunity for creativity in this sector". The designer Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana believe that the crisis has put and ending to "the uncontrolled euphoria" to sell the most expensive piece. "We had lost reality", says Dolce.
But what do the survivors in order to survive? The most visible (and beneficent for the client) are the sales. In Spain they even started before Christmas, and are now at 70%. The Swedish COS that belongs to H&M has reduced the prices repeatedly during the past year, like other brands that used any excuse to invite their clients to special discounts.
In New York some designers have drawn back their fashion shows from the official location of the upcoming Fashion Week. Costing about half a million per show, it is really quite a saving. There even are some who have cancelled their participation, and, like Viktor&Rolf, opted for offering the show via the Internet. Marc Jacobs, creative director of Louis Vuitton, has not organized his traditional Christmas party, promotional voyages are being ceased, and expenses on publicity reduced.
The specialist in style and fashion, Carmen Fuentes affirms that aside the absence of money, in some cases the bad conscience is an important factor in the fall of the sales. "The Koplowitz sisters, for example, always used to buy high-end fashion but, now, although they have the same earnings, they feel ashamed when spending 30.000 Euro in a handmade dress in Paris, while there are people suffering".
But in this situation I can’t help but wonder: What is the future of the world of fashion? What will be left of the luxury sector? The fashion industry employs so many thousands of families that imagining its absence seems difficult. "I think that luxury is an timeless and civilizing concept, and a factor of the cultural growing for society. Although it has always suffered under difficult periods, it has survived them. We believe it will do so this time".
This is the opinion of Melinda d'Eliassy, external relations director of Chanel, who sees in it "the reflection of an epoch, sometimes of ostentation, sometimes austerity, modesty or discretion".
The general director of Hermès Spain, Beatriz Gonzalez Cristobal, adds that luxury will outlast time, with or without crisis: "as far as we understand Luxury in our house, it is a intimate concept". She talks about the smell of a good perfume, the sound of the leather when opening an organizer, the pleasure of caressing cachemire wool. "I do not think that any of this is temporal, because they are values that do not know the crisis".
This is a concept, which Coco Chanel explained to be "not the contrary of poverty, but of vulgarity", but that clearly varies during different times. Besides "by the time that everything turns back to normal, the woman who wore Dior, will do so again", indicates Fuentes. "People like spoiling themselves no and then, and when they have tasted luxury, they won't renounce to it fully".
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