we need space from the Collab space
listen. i am ex-HAUST-ed.
fashion is moving at a breakneck pace. nearly everything has been reduced to Content™, and while the platforms of consuming this Content™ have evolved (glossy advertorials are out, quick-hit, easily digestible social media is in), the means of delivering this Content™ is stuck. the internet has made modern trends more grassroots than ever, which has led the powers-that-be in capital “F” Fashion to turn to the ways of the most populist piece of the fashion industry: Streetwear.
streetwear has more or less burnt out on collabs since Supreme collaborated with Louis Vuitton in 2017 (indeed, where else is there to go once you’ve achieved the insurmountable?) yet somehow high fashion has only just now started to cannibalize itself in its attempts to create the biggest collab possible. just this year we’ve had Gucci x Balenciaga, sacai x jean paul gaultier, Fendi x Versace, and Moncler x palm angels. any of these on there own would’ve shut down complex in 2016, yet today they’re nothing more than a headline you scroll past in the never-ending quest to reach the bottom of your instagram explore page.
herein lies the problem with the modern day collab. the battle for attention has gotten so saturated, so overstimulated, that unless every bit of content you’re releasing is perfectly curated, or as loud as humanly possible, it will never stand out from the sea of stimuli that flood our dopamine receptors every day.
this isn’t a particularly new trend — the trend has already boiled, simmered, boiled again, and boiled over, now leaving us with a near empty pot and a big mess — but now the collab space is occupied by the mega collab. i think what the mega brands are lacking when it comes to collabs is the substance, which is a reflection of how they view streetwear. They view streetwear and it's hype as nothing more than smoke and mirrors, that the magic and cache of a nike dunk collab is due to the fact that it's two well known brands collabing, not because the shoe itself is sick. don't get me wrong, that's definitely part of it. but the most powerful streetwear collabs usually had some reason for happening, or created something new and exciting.
sacai x Jean Paul Gaultier wasn’t necessary — it probably would’ve worked best if it was just Chitose Abe designing for Gaultier on her own. Gucci x Balenicaga was a half baked PR exercise that launched with a million half-hearted advertorials in click-hungry online publications that spawned millions more blog posts decrying the end days of fashion. Versace x Fendi was an even worse attempt at the same phenomenon.
it's condescending in a way — donatella versace looks at streetwear and the youth of today's interests and all she can pull out of it is that kids like big brands and love when they're mashed up in the most obvious way possible. The headlines may be big, but the lasting legacy is entirely based on the quality of the product.
to their credit, the youth™ do at least seem to be consistent about this across mediums. lil uzi and future collabed on an album that sent the Hypebeasts and Complexes of the world into a frenzy, only for no one to care about it two weeks later. i began this article back in september when Fendi and Versace announced their collab, but shelved it for months. each passing week only provided this article with more and more ammo. huf x playboy. Ralph Lauren x trendygolf. Y project x fila. and so many more that are lost to the sands of time, and the stock rooms and double-digit pages of ssense sales. i truly believe Hell on earth looks the rejected headlines on the Hypebeast copy desk.
or take Supreme and Tiffany and Co’s collaboration. back in june 2021, Tiffany’s announced a new campaign entitled “not your mother’s Tiffany,” in an attempt to distance itself from its stuffy aristocratic legacy and appeal to younger customers. and what does LVMH think is the best way to appeal to young customers? Supreme! never mind the fact that everything is being sold at Tiffany’s prices. if you can slap a box logo on it, surely the youth will come running.
what’s funniest about this rebrand is that there doesn’t seem to be any concrete changes in product, just changes in marketing, like putting lipstick on a very iced-out pig. perhaps its nothing more than the LVMH-ification of another heritage house.
what we’re witnessing is a massive bubble built on the loaning of cultural capital from street to luxury. there’s a mutual exchange — for street brands, they get recognition and legitimization, while luxury brands get the sort of popular cosign that money can’t quite buy — but it doesn’t always last. did Palace’s collab with Ralph Lauren give them a permanent entry into the upper echelon of fashion? do we think higher of the north face now that we know they worked with Gucci?
so when the bubble bursts, who is going to be left holding the (co-branded) bag?