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Death Of The Original Idea
By admins | January 13, 2009
Is there such a thing as an original idea anymore? Designers are influenced by everything around us, so for every “new” idea there is an existing seed of inspiration. Designers often interpret or adapt concepts of others, be it from art, history, music, or the local boutique on the corner. This is not to say there aren’t any innovative designers or inspired designs. However, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to find them and as designers it is becoming nearly impossible to meet that standard while simultaneously following the ever tightening market calendar. In our consumer driven industry “new & original” is the mantra, but “saleable” is the bottom line, together creating a schizophrenic objective for the designer.
We constantly hear about the desire to be new, unique, original, and of course, first. In an industry that’s hundreds of years old, with countless labels, and large amounts of design talent, how realistic are the expectations for an original design? More to the point, even if there is an original design/print/pattern etc, how realistic is it to ask your team to continually come up with original work on schedule? Creativity does not necessarily follow a SKU plan, and by trying to enforce such constraints a designer’s own creativity is often wrung out to dry. This may be an explanation for the high rate of turnover in the more creative departments inside our industry, especially in large companies. If a designer is forced to come up with 100 new concepts every month per item with no downtime to recharge their creative juices or seek new inspiration, they will get burned out. After a few seasons of drawing from the same well, companies want fresh and newly inspired product. So inevitably the designer will quit due to burnout or be fired and replaced in favor of a fresh perspective. This is a fundamental flaw in our corporate system that in the long run costs both companies and employees. So, do you believe consumerism and capitalism are killing the creative spirit?
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Topics: Opinion, designers, fashion, fashion industry, garment center, trend | 11 Comments » 
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January 14th, 2009 at 5:32 am
In being so focused on that bottom line I think everyone forgets about creativity and it has a domino effect on what designers make (they have to think about what their bosses will approve, the market reps thinking about what buyers will want), then what buyers order (they have to think about their customers will actually buy, with a strong emphasis on those safe items that will have mass appeal and be best-sellers). And then instead of doing their own research or really studying their customer, a lot of places seem to be utilizing the same forecasts and trend reports. It’s one thing to use them, but then I feel like places aren’t even creative in how they adapt the ideas they find from any particular source and so of course customers choose fast fashion (exception being investing in classics for quality) over designs that aren’t even trying to be innovative or differentiate themselves from what’s already out there. I remember a few years ago suddenly feeling like I was seeing the SAME thing EVERYWHERE, for entirely different markets or customers and all kinds of prices, and I notice it more every season whether it was those tops/dresses with sequin/paillettes around the neckline or neon yellow or gladiator sandals. I realize the fashion life cycle has gotten shorter, but people aren’t stupid. I’d be willing to pay for something completely original but a lot of what I see is, to quote a song from The Pierces, “boring!” So are original ideals out there? I think so, they’ve just gotten harder to find because stores aren’t willing to gamble on them and with this crap economy I think shops have even gotten more risk-averse…
And the picture on the right, I remember seeing that (NYmag?) article that interviewed people who were known for wearing only one signature color! I loved the lady who’d been wearing lime green for, like, decades!
January 14th, 2009 at 5:41 am
And I do get that there are trends and even fads, but they’re not even being modified anymore!
January 14th, 2009 at 9:35 am
Originality is always scarce, because it’s risky and difficult. Unfortunately, big companies rarely take risks (they know we will buy the same boring stuff), so we don’t see a lot of new, interesting, creative ideas.
With the growing clan of independent designers, I have great hope that a resurgence (renaissance if you will) of creativity is on its way.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Bravo guys, great points all around. The frustrating thing is there seems not end in sight to this situation. Even smaller designers who internally have the freedom to take risks, still have to sell to wary buyers. When retailers are facing slowing sales and bankrupcies, buyers will stick with safe choices. Hope you’re right Barry and change is on its way!
January 15th, 2009 at 11:48 am
[...] 39thandbroadway.com – Why our obsession for fast fashion is causing designers to burn-out and result in less innovative wardrobe choices for you! [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
[...] 39thandbroadway.com – Why our obsession for fast fashion is causing designers to burn-out and result in less innovative wardrobe choices for you! [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
I really dont think there is anything original anymore. This is a great post. It really makes you think.
January 15th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
The fashion system is really killing the creativity! The times that every season are faster, and the economy competition are ones of the murders. But a great guilty is Zara and the other enterprise like this one that kill all the creativity of the designers, copying and saling economically million person’s work. Is a plag!! But the people is happy buying cheap, with out thinking in the way Zara works!
January 15th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Yes. And this dialogue reminded me that I used to be able to tell in an instant who designed what dress in an editorial. But now it’s much more difficult to spot a distinctive style.
January 17th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
“There’s nothing new under the sun” is an ancient concept. I would say there’s nothing new about feeling that everything is old :-)
January 19th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Unfortunately with the poor economy we might see even less creativity and originality, as consumers and retailers alike invest in “classic” choices that have stood the test of time rather than taking risks with new ideas.