Fashion "Street Cred"

A question I often ask as a consumer of clothing is, "Who's designing the fashions I'm buying?"

Well, at the big fashion houses there are big name designers. Celebrities unto themselves, really.

What about the mass-produced clothing stores? When I walk into a department store or a major clothing chain I rarely know who was behind the fashions hanging on the rack, unless a celebrity has done a selection for the chain.

A monologue by Miranda Priestly, a character loosely based on the iconic Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, answers my question perfectly in the movie, The Devil Wears Prada:

"You go to your closet and you select out, oh I don't know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's actually cerulean.

You're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar De La Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St Laurent, wasn't it, who showed cerulean military jackets? And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of 8 different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin.

However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and so it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room."

Moniker is not determining next season's styles for the fashion industry. But Moniker does leverage the work done by the influential few. When a Moniker customer buys a Moniker suit, shirt, pair of trousers or sport jacket, they can be assured millions of dollars and countless jobs have indirectly gone into the creation of the clothing.

How can Moniker customers be so sure they're getting the best in design and trends? Put another way, if a Moniker customer asks about our fashion "street cred", what's the answer?

Well, we read tons of magazines each year (September issues tend to be very heavy), keep up with the Fashion Week's each season all over the globe and read other blogs, websites and articles on a daily basis. We take this time to get inside the minds of the influential few.

And if that's not enough, advising Moniker is a true guru of fashion, Mr. Harry Parnass. Read more about Mr. Parnass and his own fashion "street cred" in the Moniker blog entry from February 2008 titled, Harry Parnass - one of our fashion advisors.

So, Moniker's fashion "street cred" comes from the influential few, which includes Mr. Parnass, of course.

At this point I'm not sure what else there is to say except, "Thank you".

To the influential few, thank you.

To everyone who designs, sketches, dreams, sews and brings to life amazing fashions every season, thank you.

To the millions of dollars invested by - and the countless jobs created in - the fashion industry, thank you.

Because without you, there would be no Moniker.