My love-hate relationship with “the Swedes”
Posted By Dawn Gibbs on March 7, 2012
Why do we keep on buying from this cheap fashion house? We know the effects their products have on the environment and the producers in third world countries, some of us may even be lucky enough to have well paying jobs, which allow us to consume high quality products and not rely on these goods which we know so well to be produced under unfair circumstances. What, apart from the obvious price-advantage, keeps us going back to the most famous discount fashion supplier in the world? I don’t want to start an article about conditions in the textile industry – that’s a can of worms best left for another post – but instead I’d like to talk for a minute about good design.
A lot of the items this company sells could be referred to as basic pieces. Here, I’m referring to the things that everyone wants to have in their wardrobe to compliment the style of the moment. These items may be as basic as a pair of jeans or socks, but it’s the minute details of these products that make people automatically say “That’s exactly what I’ve been looking for”. Designing these basic items with a feel for the fashion of the moment is more difficult than it seems, and many companies either get it wrong completely – and the items look dated and bland – or deliberately create pieces that have a little something extra – thus making them unique, which is great, but creating a product that just doesn’t satisfy the general market.
Take for example, a simple top. A loose fitting, off-white top with a peter pan collar, boat neckline and short, slightly puffy sleeves. The consumer going into any shop generally has a basic idea of “the fashion” in their minds. According to the consumer’s interest in clothing and style, this idea may come from fashion magazines, blogs, advertisements, the seasonal collections of large fashion houses or just from seeing what their friends, and other people on the street, are wearing. However, they will usually also have an idea in mind of their own, personal style, what they would wear and what they would not. Whatever this idea of style may be, the majority of consumers aren’t looking for anything too flashy or over the top, chances are they want to look stylish and unique, but without been branded as fashion victims.
Honor spring/summer 2012 collection
Companies know this, and it creates the first disqualifying criterion for their designs – although they should be loosely based on the general idea of style created by the runway pieces of the big fashion houses, the products should be wearable. The t-shirt in question certainly fulfills this first criterion, it is simple and understated and could be worn by almost anyone, regardless of body type. However, as mentioned above, our idea of style doesn’t just come from big name designers. The creation of trends is a symbiotic process between pop-culture, the media, designers and consumers – it is rare that a trend can be followed back to one original source, as most are born through people’s conscious or unconscious observation of the world around them and its “Zeitgeist”.
It just so happens that the Zeitgeist of our era is one in which post-modernism and retroism play a large part. This is combined with people’s desire to express their individuality and create their own style, which was often achieved by purchasing second hand or vintage items from the 70s and 80s. Fashion conscious young people have been purchasing vintage signature pieces and combining them this way for years. Sooner or later large companies cottoned on to this, and started recreating the kinds of pieces that could previously only be found through hours of trawling thrift stores, and made them available for the masses. This retro spirit has permeated our culture for years, and finds outlet in such varied forms as the shabby chic, slow food and rockabilly movements.
The Lisbon sisters
Companies see the popularity of instagram and lomography, they’ve seen films like “The Virgin Suicides”, have heard Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games” and have noticed people’s apparent longing for a softer world of low saturation and high exposure, where everything looks better on Polaroid. And so they created a product to capture this longing. A simple t-shirt, but with a slightly tomboyish cut that suggests youthfulness, no unnecessary details, a washed-out coloring that’s not quite white and not quite cream and a cute, rounded collar – the product looks as though it could have been made in the late seventies. The consumer enters the store after hours of wandering around looking for something that’s just right, sees the t-shirt and thinks “That’s exactly what I’ve been looking for”. They look at the price tag – 14.99€ – they would probably pay more but are still happy to have found something perfect at such a good price, they spare a quick thought for the textile workers in Bangladesh – and take the product to the check-out.
I’d like to use a lot of natural colours and ethnic prints, and maybe include some more classic looking florals, but without it turning into a shabby chic kitsch-fest (mainly because I don’t think my boyfriend would allow it 
).
