Off the runway, high fashion stinks

Today and tomorrow, Target is putting on the world’s first virtual fashion show. Rather than using models or even a runway, Target will project holograms of the new designs from in-house brands such as Mossimo and Isaac Mizrahi in a New York train station.

A fashion show from a store like Target falls more into the category of a creative advertising ploy than would a show from Chanel or Versace. A main reason couture houses show their lines is to attract the attention of buyers for retail stores, but Target already has stores to sell their wares. Target is also known for unusual advertising methods, such as buying all the ad space in a 2005 edition of The New Yorker. But while the virtual show may be mostly for attention, it’s still indicative of the world of apparel.

Since there won’t be any real clothing at the show, Target is literally selling an image. They are being up front about the aspect of fashion that is not about the clothes at all. The texture of the material or how an item fits and moves on a live body is not what they are concerned with. Sometimes all you want is the surface level.

Not actually getting to see that Valentino dress in person keeps brands exclusive. This past weekend, I realized that image matters, even on affordable clothing.

On Saturday, I went to a BCBG factory sale in the part of downtown Los Angeles that smells like processed meat. The clothes were on hundreds of racks in aisles that were only about two feet wide. People were waiting an hour in the direct sun (with no shade) just to get inside. Pants were all $15, dresses were $25, $35 or $45 depending on the simplicity of the design, and tops were $10. But despite the designer deals, it was one of the worst shopping experiences of my life. Company workers barked out every two to three minutes ““ sometimes on megaphones ““ that you were not allowed to try on clothes, and they stopped me for testing out a jacket.

I should have been happy just to run my hand along beaded dresses and leather coats, but with 50 other grubby hands also reaching for the elusive bargain, the mystique was lost.

The fact that I could put a designer dress in my plastic trash bag (they handed out bags in lieu of shopping carts) was not thrilling in the end. Who wants a dress that may or may not fit or that may or may not have been touched by someone who had just picked their nose? I really wished I was in some regular store paying for a sale dress than paying for something that said BCBG but in no way felt like the real thing.

When the trimmings of fashion are stripped away, with no three-way mirror in the dressing room and no salesperson telling you which color looks best, you really are just buying the fabric.

Consumers, after all, are used to being captivated by images. Elite brands, or at least the brands that have runway shows, are not real to most people anyway. All I’ve ever seen of a Milan runway is from E!’s fashion week coverage. So, 3-D holograms are a step up.

Because it’s not about the shirt. It’s about how the shirt looks, how it looks on you, and how it looks in a magazine, on a runway or in a hologram.

If you think shopping doesn’t have to be fun, e-mail Crocker at acrocker@media.ucla.edu.

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