But it's not only the outfit that is on offer. Over the past decade or so, fashion has stolen into each and every corner with the urban landscape. Our mobile phones, our cars, our kitchens, our choice of media along with the locations where we meet our pals - these, as well, have come to be subject to the vagaries of fashion. It's not adequate to wear the attire; you need to don the way of life, too. Fashion models have encouraged this improvement by including their names to a wide range of objects, fulfilling every imaginable function, and promoting them in shops that resemble theme parks.

And who am I, anyway - your host for this tour behind the scenes of fashion? A 12 months in the past, I could make no claims to becoming an expert. I was just your regular trade hack, writing about complex but faintly geeky subjects this kind of as promoting as well as the advertising. Nor was I a fashion victim. Sure, I used to cruise second-hand emporia for individuals special Levi's together with the red stitching on the inseam, but that was eons ago, before 'retro' morphed into 'vintage'.

The book owes a lot to the real fashion experts - the consultants and academics who are continuously monitoring the sector. I used to be aided by the fact that I reside in Paris, which still sees itself because the capital of fashion. The French regard fashion in significantly the same way as the British see soccer - it is a national obsession. There may be an unapologetically Francophile thread running by means of these pages, and I would argue that my location gave me access to books and posts that my Anglo-Saxon readers would possibly not have seen.

One thing is certain: fashion, even on the top finish on the scale, is increasingly about major internet business. Designers are admirably creative people, but they work for an ever-shrinking amount of global conglomerates. Under-performing makes are offered without a hint of remorse, no matter how talented and artistic the folks behind them would possibly be. The outfits a designer sends out on towards the runway are worthless unless they increase sales of handbags, sunglasses and perfume. Thus, promoting has taken using a crucial significance, and no designer can find the money for to neglect it.

The designers are not always at ease with this situation. Lanvin designer Alber Elbaz - a man as softly spoken as he is sharply witty - relates an interesting anecdote. Elbaz learned his craft operating for the legendary American designer Geoffrey Beene. A single day, Beene asked the young Alber what he considered of a specific dress. 'It's incredibly commercial,' Elbaz opined. Beene took him gently aside and said, 'Alber, you must never say a dress is commercial. You must say it's desirable.'


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