recession and fashion

When thinking about what to write in my new post I wondered to myself what is the main thing that is going off in my life right now. Being a lingerie designer times are hard. Many people are facing redundancy (me included) so I am wondering what is happening to the fashion industry? How do the consumers react? Who is doing well, who is flopping? Why and how?

Start at the top, there was recently an article in the metro stating how well the high end lingerie brand Agent Provocateur was doing in these tough times, apparently their sales have grown by 8% since march last year. On an even higher scale Hadley Freeman from the Guardian said that Dior's haute couture sales have risen by 35% and Chanels by 20%. On the bottom end of the scale there is Primark, New Look and Matalan alike all doing really well.

I think in times like these it seems that stores with good PR, good shop fittings and that know their market work well. That is why people like Morgan and Bay Trading are flopping. Agent Provocateur's PR is fabulous, from window dressing to newsletters and agent documentation brochures everything is well thought through. Press is something that New Look and Primark are always in, does this sound like brain science? I dont think so. You just have to be witty about it.