If anything characterises the past decade in fashion then it must surely be the concepts of both volume and speed. While designer fashion was formerly a strictly limited edition and elitist pursuit, today there is a truly spectacular amount of product to choose from – and it's aimed at anyone and everyone the world over, no longer just the privileged few. Add to the skincare, fragrance, accessory, footwear and diffusion lines of yesteryear, second and third lines, pre-collections and cruise collections, knitwear, denim, fine jewellery, swimwear and more, all at various price points and arriving in store on a monthly basis ensuring that merchandise is "fresh", and one could be forgiven for thinking that our desire is insatiable. And by and large that has proved to be the case. Amongst the most highly visible and overtly glamorous symbols of capitalism, fashion responds to demand. It's as simple as that. And the growth of the luxury goods industry to hitherto unforeseen heights is nothing if not testimony to that.
"Fast fashion" – 10 years ago no one knew what such a thing was – must take at least some of the credit (or should that be blame?) for this.
After all, in order to keep up with the budget copies of designer clothes, many of which are available only weeks after the designer originals that inspired them were first shown, the high end has retaliated in kind. In this case, the internet, not to mention the weekly glossy magazines filled with paparazzi shots of celebrities endorsing the new season's designs, have both played more than a small part.
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