Time is of great significance in the fashion industry. The production of fashion must be managed in a timely manner, season after season, collection after collection. Time is required for creatives to manage and produce collections that will sell, be integrable, memorable, and creative of sorts. Time becomes a limitation for creatives and discourages the process of innovation. The vast rate of production, which is required, does not align with the designer. Collections became a rapid desire or a quick fix to our obsession. Clothing does not resonate with people on the level it did anymore, the garments lack the emotional depth of resonance. Luxury garments have become more accessible for the sake of easy purchase in a timely manner. With a click of a button on the screen, you’ve just ordered an express delivery of a luxury item to your doorstep. At the end of the day, none of us have time, we are too busy. The interpretation in the creation of authenticity, the craft of garment making, has been imitated–possibly due to the lack of time. The substitution loses its symbolic value nearly becoming a source of gratification. A one-time wear for validation. 

Creative directors do not have time to produce collections that matter. Within a year the fashion creative algorithm has to comprehend four Pret a Porter, two Haute Couture, and possibly Resort/Cruise collections. The creative ensemble is exhausted to further produce all of the collections in one equivalent stroke. Time creates pressure especially when you do not have a lot of it, while the fact is that multiple collections are waiting to be displayed. The collections employ the essence of the designer’s inner world, an exploration of themselves within the current environment– resulting in a reflection. The matter remains that a visionary cannot produce it all in time. As Austin Kleon mentions “to sit around and do nothing.”  Avoiding work is work. The refocusing of the mind. 

Visionaries should be allowed to not talk about fashion all the time, nor do they have to think about it. In the i-D magazine, Raf Simons, Matthieu Blazy and Pieter Mulier in conversation, the interviewee, Osman Ahmed, mentions now that Pieter (creative director of Alaia), Matthieu(creative director of Bottega Venta), and Raf (co-creative director of Prada), do not work together, how does their friendship and conversations look like. They talk about everything, but fashion: 

Pieter: We don’t really talk about fashion.

Matthieu: We talk about the dog, we talk about art, food.

Pieter: But we really don’t talk about fashion. Not even after a show.

Raf: But I don’t talk about fashion anyway, anymore.

…..

Raf: The beautiful thing is that we all have a very good understanding of when it’s time to take time off. So when it is that time, we’re definitely not going to annoy each other with the stress of work or anything like that.

Matthieu: But also, all the weekends we spent watching movies, eating ice cream. When we were in New York it was really about, what are we going to eat? What’s the movie we’re going to watch?

i-D magazine interview. The Timeless Issue. Osman Ahmed. February 23, 2023. 

Lack of Time Obeys the Rules of Overconsumption

The lack of time tossed the idea of a persona wearing the clothing due to its utilisation. The surface of the garment does not care to be studied but is stripped away of the details with a careless eye. The fragments of the clothes become undiscovered and forgotten, simply implied as a thing which is part of another thing. When the season is over, there is a cycle to be maintained, fixation on having a new item to wear. Wearing something once disregards the valuable orientations of the garment. The possible inner details of what may make you love the garment, and wear it several times. 

A purchase of one winter coat would last for three or even seven seasons. Now this is unimaginable. Attitudes towards clothing has been changed, we feel the need to buy a winter jacket the second it snows or an autumn/winter collection arrives in stores. There is an establishment tradition that every time there is a new season you need to buy new clothes. Over time, the lineup of the winter coats surpasses the norm following the trend of overconsumption. It’s a well-known fact that en masse clothing subscribes to overconsumption, but luxury garments have become the same contributor. Jean Baudrillard in The System of Objects mentions the concrete relationship between models and series in the modern system. Models quit their formal isolation becoming a part of industrial production, further opening to serial distribution. It clarifies the idea of luxury garments not being so luxurious anymore, where the en mass has the chance to have its own take. The primary model loses its meaning, further becoming deprived of its significance for the wearer. 

The maintenance of clothes: cleaning, tailoring, alterations, or repairs does not qualify as the standard. Not many maintain garments, it is much easier and cheaper, to simply buy a new item. Tied to the demands of modern life, where time is a precious commodity, people are simply too busy to invest in the care of their wardrobe, preferring the convenience of quick, disposable fashion. The effort required to preserve garment/s, whether it’s taking a coat to the tailor, mending a tear, or even just properly cleaning delicate fabrics– doesn’t fit into the rhythm of contemporary life. Clothing is increasingly seen as temporary, something to be replaced rather than conserved. 

Time has become a rare luxury in the fashion industry, leading to a compromise in creativity, craftsmanship, and meaning. Accessibility of clothing has accelerated due to time constraints. A garment maintains its purpose of utilisation, but it may no longer manifest a presence of its own, creating a substantial atmosphere. Fashion has shifted from a form of personal expression to a transient, fleeting experience.