In the context of Blog Action Day, the topic for this post is Climate Change.
Climate Change affects so many diferent aspects of our lives and thousends of economic sectors worldwide. The fashion world is no exception to this rule. With such an unpredictable weather it is very difficult for designers to plan their collections. It seams that the structured 4 season collections will be extincted in a very close fututre.
As the seasons blur, the industry is adding subsets to the traditional autumn-winter, spring-summer arrangement: pre-collection, cruise or resort, high summer and Vogue's own special designation, "trans-seasonal". The whole fashion industry is changing as you read this article.
"You can't have everyone showing four times a year to present the same thing. People are not prepared to invest in these clothes that, from one season to the other, use the same fabrics at the same weight,"Beppe Modenese, founder of Milan Fashion Week, told The New York Times a couple of years ago.
The once-niche cruise collections (originally designed for wealthy women going on beach holidays) are an increasingly important component of the fashion business nowadays. Winter collections tend to be more about layers than bulky coats. And Trans-seasonal collections concentrate on designs more suitable to a milder climate year round.
The fashion world needs to find new ways to stay cool and current through these confusing seasons so they can keep the buyers interest all year round and retailers don't find themselves with stocks of clothing nobody wants to buy.
Since this economic sector has been affected so much by climate change, there is more reason to promote eco friendly practices between the companies in the fashion world. Fashion companies need to give more importance to natural fibers and materials, and responsible production practices, reducing their impact on the enviroment. A good way to do your part is to look for natural fabrics, natural dyes and to make sure the companies that produce the clothing that you buy are responsible to the planet (a quick google search should do the trick very easily).
Ok, now that we talked about the serious stuff, I let you with some beautiful designs from Resort Cruise Collections 2010 by Alexander McQueen, Dolce & Gabanna and Lanvin (in order of appearance); for your amusement. Happy Blog Action Day!