Backlog: Fashion Consultant Jean-Jacques Picart on the Fashion Shows's System

In a very reflective interview for Vogue.com, French fashion consultant JPP tackles his career-spanning thoughts on the ins and outs of the fashion world.

On fashion shows:
“Today’s ‘super-production’ show formula is at a tipping point. Up until the Internet, fashion shows were for professionals; now they’re for general consumption. But the message for the industry is not the same as the one for the street: Professionals can decode the runway and get excited about things that are ‘unwearable,’ but the general public takes it at face value, and then copiers can take the unwearable and make it palatable—all of that worries me.

“And forget standing ovations like the one Alber Elbaz got for his Spring 2003 collection for Lanvin: People hardly applaud anymore because their hands are occupied with their smartphones. People have one eye on the runway and the other on the screen. Who can concentrate like that?

“Do we really need to spend so much when money is hard to come by for almost everyone? You can’t have one show serve two objectives. A spectacle is entertainment for fashion lovers, social networks, and buzz; they should happen when the clothes are in-store because people want to buy clothes when they see them, not six months later. I’d love to see the fashion houses with means do a beautiful, scaled-down presentation during Fashion Week, and a spectacle later, which anyway would be a better advertising strategy. Cash-strapped young designers could just focus on the clothes. Later, when they are established, they can get into entertainment if they want. It’s time to reinvent things, but the answer is going to come from the younger generation—not from an old guy like me.